Disclaimer: Do not own it.

I suppose the only person I really own is the tactician, Dusk, but he's only mentioned in passing in this chapter, so no, I don't own it.

...Wish I did, though. Because then Eliwood would be able to die without causing a game over. In fact, if you made Eliwood die, you would get 5 stars for everything.

...He's such a useless character!! ...Ahem. On with the story!!

Heath sat quietly off to the side of the rag-tag army's camp, stoking his fire absently with a stick.

His tent was pitched on the very outskirts of the camp, the very last one between the trees of the forest and the other tents.

Hyperion was curled in a semi-circle around its rider, asleep. He'd been flying the wyvern a lot lately, so it needed more rest than usual.

Satisfied with his fire-stoking, Heath rose and stretched, his back creaking slightly.

The wyvern lord glanced around, then started towards the trees. Usually the green-haired man preferred staying near his wyvern at all times, in case of an impending battle, but he felt strangely restless today.

He wandered about the forest for fifteen minutes or so, but it did little to calm him. His mind kept returning to a conversation he'd had earlier that day...

Even during a lull in the battle, Heath was on his guard, ever wary of a surprise attack of some sort, even though Hyperion was resting.

Which was partly what rankled him so when someone came up unheard behind him, and casually asked, "Is someone chasing you or something?"

Startled, he spun around, bringing his lance up automatically. Somewhat belatedly, he realised the speaker was an ally. "...Me?" he responded lamely, lowering his weapon slightly.

The other man nodded. He was roughly the same height as Heath, with long lavender hair restrained by a dark bandanna and matching eyes. A thin scar ran from near the centre of his forehead, over his eye, almost to his jawline, and he was dressed all in dark colours.

"You're going to tire yourself out staying on guard all the time," the man – Heath suspected he was a thief – remarked. "You look like a wyvern rider..." he continued, studying Heath. "You a deserter or something?"

Heath scowled. "Who..." He was about to say, 'Who do you think you are?' but it occurred to him that the man was just trying to be friendly. "Who are you?" he asked instead. "Are you a spy from the king? Or are you one of those Black Fang?"

That may have seemed a little harsh, but Heath was slightly annoyed by his sudden appearance.

"Hey, relax," the man said quickly. "Yeah, I'm Black Fang, but--"

Without really thinking, Heath sprang forward at the mention of 'I'm' and 'Black Fang' in the same sentence. "Gah!" he exclaimed, but the man had already disappeared. "Huh? Where..."

"Right here," the thief said from behind him.

"How?!" Heath spun again, lance raised defensively. "Knave!"

"It's all right, it's OK. Let's just calm down, OK? I'm Legault. I'm a thief, formerly with the Black Fang. I've got no connection to the fellows chasing you, so east easy!" Legault explained quickly, raising his hands to show he held no weapons.

"...What do you want?" Heath demanded suspiciously.

"Nothing. You just looked so wound up... I thought I'd come over and lighten your mood," Legault replied.

"It's none of your concern!" snapped Heath. As they had been speaking, the battle had recommenced, so he mounted Hyperion and flew off to fight.

"Ah... Sorry. Thought I was being friendly, that's all," Legault muttered behind him, drawing his sword before rejoining the fray.

"Ridiculous," he muttered. Heath didn't need any more complications in his life! It was hard enough dealing with his and Hyperion's needs, and now this mysterious thief wanted to be his friend?

The wyvern lord absently chewed on his upper lip as he mulled over the dilemma. He was content with the life he'd been forced into. He had Hyperion for company, what more could he possibly need?

Little did he know, contentment was far from happiness, and you couldn't be happy if you were lonely...
Author's Note: Hm... Rather brief. The later chapters will be longer, I just sort of needed this to get started. Yes...

Also, I'm unsure whether I should attempt a lemon...

It seems like... well, this probably seems pretty shallow, but blame the fangirl in me, but there aren't that many /decent/ lemons for FE. Unless you count the one where it turns out Lyn and Florina are actually (gasp!) guys, and then they proceed to screw each other. Spontaneously, Gheb from FE8 comes along, forces them to perform oral sex, but his orgasm explodes their heads. ...No. That's just wrong...

-spazzes and dies-

Anyhow, any comments, complaints, concerns? All constructive criticism is appreciated. Thanks!

-QS-