Author's Notes: I'm so sorry these chapters took forever! I've been busy with craploads of projects; and add to that Maple Story (which has just consumed me) and Dragon Quest VIII (Which is getting more and more time), and also the fact that I'm writing other fanfics as I write this one; and I barely have any time left! I'm so sorry for all those who waited!

Warnings available during these chapters: Gore

Chapter 31:

Rhys had steadily crept over to Muarim on the ground. His eye was always steadily looking at Trigger; who didn't seem to notice the Priest yet. He looked down at Muarim's wound and frowned. The bolt had gone right through the laguz; but somehow it didn't appear to his any organs; which was amazing; because there was very little room for it to do so. He knelt beside Muarim and took the Mend staff that he used to heal wounds of this level of damage. He began to wave it over the laguz; but found that it was doing nothing. He then looked back at the giant bolt fired from the ballista.

"Of course! The wound won't close when there's something in it!" Rhys exclaimed. Perhaps a little too loudly. Trigger immediately whirled around and glared at the Priest; with the exact same anger that he showed towards the sniper. "N-now… calm down there… T-Trigger…" Rhys stuttered, his palm out. Trigger closed the distance with a single leap into the air and now Rhys could smell the sniper's blood on him.

Trigger looked at Rhys, then at Muarim, then back to the Priest. During this time, Rhys had switched the Mend staff in his hand for one that they had just recently acquired. It looked exactly the same; except for one difference; the crystal at the tip of the staff wasn't blue like the Mend staff; but a red. Trigger eyed it suspiciously, and growled.

---

"Ike, the Daein forces have all retreated…" Soren said. His voice didn't have its usual cool, to-the-point intonation. It seemed to waver as he spoke. "Ike?" Soren asked. The commander didn't look back at his mage; but simply nodded.

"We have to get Rhys out of there. We also need to incapacitate Trigger." Ike said. Soren nodded. "If we get too close; Trigger will hear us. We need a way to get there, quick and silently." Ike said. Soren pondered for a moment; but his thoughts were only filled with one thing.

« Am I going to become like that too? »

"Maybe we can get one of the hawks to carry us in the air; though they'll only be able to carry the lightest people and only two at a time-" Soren started.

"It's too late! He's making a move!" Mia said. Trigger began to growl louder at Rhys; who was still on the ground in fear. Before he knew it; Ike started in a sprint towards the Priest and the abomination that was Trigger.

---

Rhys held his staff out as Trigger began to move for the Priest. Trigger stopped at the staff that was pointed out at his face, and bent to sniff it. Rhys yelled something inaudible; and the staff's tip began to glow. Trigger looked deep into the ruby light that was emitted from the staff; and soon stepped backwards. He began to move groggily, and clawed at the air lethargically. Rhys began to pant as Trigger opened his eyes again and looked at him. Had the staff not had any effect on Trigger? He raised his staff again to let out another blast of magic; but then Trigger doubled over into a deep sleep. Ike and the other Mercenaries arrived soon after.

"Sleep staff…" Rhys said now coughing. Mia bent near him and helped him up; his arm slung around her shoulder. "Ike, could you please get some other people to help you get Muarim back to the tent. Leave Mordecai there too. Mist, get your medical supplies ready; we'll need to close the wound before we can do any serious healing." Rhys said. Ike understood immediately and began shouting orders.

"Trigger?" Ike said, once Muarim was beginning to be carefully lifted up by his arms and legs by the two hawks; Ulki and Janaff. They flew slowly, yet steadily back to the camp. Mist followed them on her steed; going to ready everything needed.

"I hit him with a strong dosage of the magic; he should be out for a day or two." Rhys said. He stood straight without Mia's help, and began to walk back to begin to tend to Muarim. He passed Soren, who merely stared at the dormant Trigger.

"You… you don't know what happened… do you?" Soren asked. Rhys shrugged. "I'll go see if there's anything in our documents; or my books." Soren said. He left briskly; and Rhys thought he could hear Soren talking to himself.

"Ike… today didn't go as planned; but we can't turn back because of a couple of events, can we?" Mia asked. Ike looked at her solemnly, but didn't say a word. "I know already; we can't turn back; but going forward is going to be harder. Don't worry; you can count on me." Mia said; trying to smile. It came out forced and wrong; and she merely placed a hand on Ike's shoulder then went back to camp. Ike looked to the battleground; littered with bodies of soldiers. A few soldiers were clad in Crimean and Begnion armour; but the battlefield was mostly red with armour and blood.

"I can't regret letting him join us… but we'll have to take more care of what we do with him." Ike said to himself; while staring at a circle burnt into the ground. He stared at the spot where the dome that had encircled Trigger had made its mark, then walked back to camp.

Chapter 32:

"Mordecai, if you please?" Rhys said, motioning the large laguz to Muarim. They had laid him on a table inside Rhys' tent. Muarim now breathed in a sporadic tempo; his forehead covered in sweat and his fever rising. Mordecai stepped over and took a deep breath; then placed one hand on Muarim's chest. The other gripped the giant bolt from the ballista tightly.

"Remember not to pull it out too fast please; or this will make things more complicated." Rhys said. Mordecai nodded; knowing that the removal of a weapon could easily do more damage than its entrance; and pulled. The bolt came out steadily, along with massive amounts of copious blood. Mist, who was watching, turned to the side and nearly vomited. The bolt came out; the viscous red liquid seeping down its sides. Mordecai threw it to the ground and nodded. Rhys moved so he could leave.

"Mist, if you want you can leave. All I needed were your supplies." Rhys said. Mist looked back at Rhys with a determined look, and shook her head. "All right then." Rhys said. He placed a cloth under Muarim where the bolt had protruded. Hopefully, his body weight would be enough to stop the flow of blood from that side. "Mist, apply pressure and try to get the area near the entryway dried up; it'll be easier for me to close the wound that way." Rhys said. Mist came over with a clean cloth and began to wipe the wound; the whole time shivering. "Let's get started." Rhys said.

---

Trigger slept all alone in his tent. They had brought him back still transformed; though he reverted back to his human form sometime after. Rolf had moved his things from the tent casually; to avoid any suspicion; and moved to Boyd and Oscar's tent. Trigger's tent was now empty, save his few things and the bed he was laid on.

Inside his dream, everything was beginning to replay. He could see his transformation; he could feel his anger all over again. But this time, even if he told himself to not do something it continued on as if to mock him. He could see the way he tortured the sniper and he could taste the blood on his mouth. He then saw himself approaching Rhys; who was on the ground. He could feel his body prepare to attack, but then he sat up screaming. He knew people would have heard him; but no one came to check on him. No one wanted to associate with him anymore. He was all alone all over again.

---

Soren flipped through his books vehemently. "No, no, no!" He said as he flipped through every book at his disposal. Nothing could explain the horrendous acts that had happened earlier; nothing could tell him what happened. He slumped down in the pile of books and shivered. He knew that symbol on the ground was a symbol like his; but not identical. The symbol of the Branded had been shown in clear daylight; but now it seemed that being a Branded would only make things worse.

"Does being a Branded mean you transform into… into…" Soren said. "NO! I won't let that happen to me!" He yelled furiously, kicking up his books. He panted heavily and began to take random books into his hands and throw them furiously around his tent; but soon one caught his eye. On the cover was an arcane symbol but no title. He could read the book; but he never understood its mundane use of words and its awkward pictures. Now, he flipped through it vigorously, and stopped somewhere past halfway in the book. "This… this is it… This explains it all. I have to show Ike!" He said. He ran out of his tent; leaving his giant mess on the ground.

Chapter 33:

"Okay Mist. You can look now." Rhys said. Mist had been doing everything that Rhys had said; but had just started to look away once Rhys began to sew the wound. The cleric slowly opened her eyes and saw that the wound had been sealed as best as it could with the limited supplies, and instantly knew what was next. She took out her Heal staff, seeing Rhys had already taken out his Mend staff. He nodded to her, and they both placed the tip of their wands near the wound. Closing their eyes, the tent began to glow a mix of blue and green; the colours of their wands.

Muarim's wound began to close normally; as if it had never been there before. A large scar was left, thought their work wasn't done. Mist sighed, looking at the closed wound. "Alright Rhys, let's get started on the other side." Mist said. Rhys nodded and sighed in exasperation. "Mordy, could you please turn him over?" Mist asked. Mordecai nodded, and heaved the laguz over. As Rhys began to sew the wound closed again, Mist looked back to somewhere else. A scream echoed through the night; a scream she wished she never heard

She looked out the flap of their tent and noticed that the scream came from Trigger's tent. "He's awake." Mist said. Rhys looked up for a split second and knew what she meant almost instantly. She was afraid; they all were. But he knew that they couldn't just shun him; it wasn't his fault. He turned back to his sewing and continued his ministrations.

"Mordecai, could you please tell him to stay in his tent and that we will call him once we're done tending to his brother?" Rhys asked. Mordecai opened his mouth to say something back; but Rhys' look told him not to. The laguz nodded and went outside of the tent. His strength wasn't needed anymore inside that tent anyway. "Alright Mist. The wounds are both closed. Let's heal this one properly; then begin on healing his internal damage." Rhys said.

---

Trigger sat up on his bed, only now realising that it was empty. "Rolf…" He said, looking around. He wasn't groggy as when he usually woke up; but he was still confused. Rolf left because... "Of what I've become. He's gone because he's scared." Trigger said aloud.

"Who is?" Mordecai said from outside the tent. He entered without waiting and saw that Trigger looked at him in shock. "I hope you're not talking about me. I'm not scared." Mordecai said. He smiled; and Trigger felt that smile was genuine. Though, something inside him told him not to.

« People have only deceived you before, what's to stop him? He saw you; he should be scared! » Trigger thought in his mind. "Why aren't you scared? You saw what happened. I… became a monster." Trigger said. He looked to the ground in dismay and a tear began to run down his cheeks. He stopped himself from crying fully; but that didn't stop the tears from coming; or the sobs from leaking out of the corners of his mouth.

"Child, fear and confusion are too different to compare. I am not afraid; but confused. I do not know what happened; but I want to." Mordecai said. Trigger looked up at him. Of all the people to come to him, the wisest one came first. Mordecai smiled and held out a hand to Trigger. Trigger took it and stood up. "I think they're finished tending to your brother." Mordecai said. Trigger's eyes widened; as if he had just remembered something extremely important.

"Muarim!" Trigger said, running out of his tent at full speed. It didn't matter to him if people stared; he only wanted to make sure his brother was okay.

Chapter 34:

"So you mean that Branded can still transform?" Ike said. Soren had come running into his tent rather quickly and in a haste; but the tactician had promised that the information he had found what just what they were looking for.

"Apparently so. The Branded are like sub-humans.; they have the power to transform into their animal-like state. However, the Branded are still half-beorc. They have lived their whole lives in their human form; so walking on four legs would be difficult. This is also why they cannot be controlled; the increase in power is too much for them. They live their lives the way a beorc would; and learn things that only beorcs do. Becoming a sub-human is just too difficult for them." Soren said. He took a deep breath, and sighed.

"This explains the dome? Or the symbol on the ground?" Ike asked. Soren flipped to another page.

"This page here says it all. The symbol that a Branded would sport would act like a seal. The symbol, created by the fusion of beorc and laguz blood, is meant to keep the sub-human side dormant. But when a Branded goes through extreme emotional duress the sub-human side can awaken. Then, the host body will transform into those monsters." Soren said, matter-of-factly. Ike wondered how the sage could have learnt so much in the small time it took him to run from his tent to this one.

"And the dome?" Ike asked.

"It's supposed to appear when they're transforming. It's kind of weird really. It's meant to warn you to back off; but it also tells you that something wrong with that person. Also, it is a clear indicator that person is Branded." Soren said.

"Does it say how long it will take to revert back to their beorc form? Trigger reverted as much as we know; but no one was watching so we can't tell." Ike said. Soren smiled. "Let me guess. You've been waiting to tell me?" Ike asked. Soren let out a small 'heh' and turned his book to one of the first pages. There, a large diagram with a person's body and arrows circulating through it was shown. He gave the book to Ike.

"This is the flow of energy through your body. Without energy, we obviously cannot move. However, the energy is constantly being drained and replaced. When a Branded transforms, it uses up a drastic amount of this energy. Afterwards, energy is replaced either slowly or none at all. Thus, the host body will revert once all of their energy is used up. It's quite a simple concept really. Though there is one problem; when Rhys put Trigger to sleep I'm guessing that he was able to replace this energy faster; since he was resting. So it took him longer to revert back." Soren said. Ike looked at it and frowned.

"That's a problem now. If this happens again, we'll be stuck. We'll have to wait until Trigger spends all of his energy in his rampage and reverts back; or we could incapacitate him but prolong the transformation." Ike said. He looked at Soren, who just sat there in consternation. "Something wrong?" Ike asked.

"If this happens again… who says it will be Trigger?" Soren mumbled. Ike pretended he didn't hear that, and closed the book firmly. The thud of it closing brought Soren back, and the tactician looked back at Ike. "That's all the information I could draw from that text. The language is easy to read but it's hard to comprehend." Soren said. Ike nodded. Then, he remembered his first conversation with Trigger.

"Does that book say anything about aging?" Ike asked. Soren looked at him oddly. Ike didn't want to explain, but the mage wouldn't understand if he didn't. "Trigger looks to be about 18... right?" He said. Soren nodded. "But... he was there at the Serenes Massacre." Ike said. Soren took the book.

"That's impossible. The Serenes Massacre was over 20 years ago. He should be well over 18 by now." Soren said, looking through the book. He didn't expect to find anything, but looked anyway; mostly to humor Ike.

"I know. But I believe him. There's nothing?" Ike said, frowning. Soren shook his head, until he suddenly stopped. "Soren?" Ike asked.

"I... I can't believe it..." Soren said. Ike looked at Soren, then down to the book. Another diagram of the human body was shown, this time with circles at certain points of the body. They seemed to ripple; growing steadily outwards. "This..." Soren started.

"Soren." Ike said. The mage looked up at him. "What does it say?" Ike said, his tone serious.

"Ike..." Soren started, thoughts racing through his mind. He pushed them all to the side, and focused on the situation at hand. "Each of these ripples are growing points; where a person would grow and it would most likely be noticeable. The legs, the arms, the neck; right?" Soren asked. Ike nodded. "But this says that during transformation... Growth stops. Time Stops. It's as if aging stops as is for the transformee." Soren said.

"What?" Ike asked, not believing. Soren nodded, not having to say anymore. The two sat in silence, until Ike nodded. "So Trigger transformed through anger seeing the forests burning. He stays transformed for... how many years... and untransforms; the memory still present in his mind." Ike started. Soren quickly understood.

"He goes back to Begnion thinking the massacre just happened. He goes to try and bridge relations, to try and stop things; but all he does is bring back unwanted memories. That's why he's not listened to. He goes back to the forest, not knowing what happened." Soren added. Ike pondered a little.

"But how old was Trigger when that happened?" Ike wondered. Soren shrugged. "I... I'll have to ask him." Ike decided. He hadn't even thought of Trigger's age since he'd first talked to him, but now the child was becoming more and more intriguing.

"That'll be quite enough. Thank you." He said. He handed the book back to Soren, who got up. Soren bowed and exited the tent; but stopped just as he exited. "Soren?" Ike asked, seeing the tactician had stopped.

"Trigger just ran by." Soren said. Ike got up immediately and looked out of his tent; just when Mordecai ran up.

"I told him his brother was alive. He ran." Mordecai said. The three looked on as Trigger dashed into the healer's tent.