Chapter Two
"Fayt!!!" Marcia called, "Fayt! Fa-ayyt! FAYT!!! Wake up you idiot!" Marcia yelled loudly.
"AHH!... What!?" Fayt screamed and looked at Marcia angrily.
"Stop messing around!" Marcia snapped at him.
"Uh, where are we?" He asked.
"I... actually have no idea." Marcia answered sheepishly. "A cell, I guess..."
Fayt looked over at Rayne and Albel and asked, "What's with those two?"
"There mopping 'cause they lost to that guy so easily." Marcia smirked.
"WE DIDN'T LOSE TO HIM!!!" They yelled at her.
"Oh, yes you did!" Marcia teased.
Cameron opened the cell door and said, "The Queen will see you now."
"Where are we?" Marcia asked.
"YOU!" Rayne looked at me furiously.
"Yes, it's me. Now follow." he commanded, signaling them to follow.
"Why the hell should we?!" Albel snapped.
"Because," he started, "you want out of this cell."
"Bu-... Fine..." Albel and Rayne were angry, but he was right. They wanted to leave.
What they didn't know was that Cameron was half Laguz. He hid that fact in a dark red robe so he wouldn't startle them. He unlocked the cell door and opened it. Then they walked up a large flight of stairs and down a long, dark hall with only torches. As he opened the next door, a stranger pushed him out of the way and ran down the hall. When he saw what he was carrying, which was Elincia's staff, he said, "Stop thief! Damn it." He started to call out to the others, "Hey, don't let him get away! Catch that thie- oh, never mind." He gently pushed Marcia out of the way and chanted, "Elfire." A large blast of fire traveled down the hall, heating the room up, and hit the thief, causing him to explode!
"Eww..." Marcia was disgusted and looked at the remains of the thief: his boots and his gauntlets. He walked over to the burn spot and picked up Elincia's staff.
"Alright, let's go." he continued through the door, and the others followed. They were almost to the throne room when he stopped them at the door. "Okay, now don't pester the Queen with too many questions. She'll explain the situation to you." He opened the next door and they walked into the throne room. "Now-"
"S-S- Sub-Human!!!" Marcia screamed as soon as she saw a Laguz standing by the Queen. The other three unsheathed their swords.
"WHAT?!" The rescuer roared loud enough that the whole castle rumbled. "What did you just call him?! That's it, nobody calls Sam that!" he yelled as he drew his blade, "BACKLASH W-"
"That's enough!" Queen Elincia halted him, "Sheathe your sword!"
"But they-"
"Now!" She demanded. She snapped her fingers, and in an instant, the castle snipers all aimed their bows at mhim The recruits started whispering to their neighbors.
"...Fine..." he sheathed my blade, "it just inflames me that stupid Beorcs like her," he pointed at Marcia, "think we're monsters. It's been that way ever since I was born. My father, Laguz; my mother, Beorc. My father died protecting the both of us..."
"I'm so sorry..." Marcia sniffed silently.
"...When I grew old enough to play with the other children, they beat me up and threw rocks at me and called me a half breed. When I asked my mother what that meant, she just started crying. That's the first time I saw her like that. That's when it happened... Ashnard showed up and grew a sudden interest in me, but my mother wouldn't budge. Ashnard threatened her, but she had no intent to move. Then Ashnard shoved my mother out of his way and reached his hand out to grab me. But my mother was quicker. She grabbed my father's sword, Tetsuiga, and ran it through Ashnard. He froze for a minute, then suddenly glared at my mother and threw her back. That's when he grabbed his sword and..." a tear ran down his face by this time, "he... killed her..."
The Laguz and Elincia looked away sadly, not wanting to hear anymore.
"Wait, he's also a sub-human?" Marcia whispered to Albel.
"...And Ashnard forced me to witness it... And then I started to run. I ran as fast and far away from Ashnard I could, but when I got so far, I collapsed. That's when Lucia found me and brought me to Crimea. That's when I met Sam. We are similar. Both half Laguz."
Albel interrupted, "Oh, just shut up! Nobody cares! You're just a pathetic, no talent sub-human!"
Sam looked at him, watching his reaction. Cameron stood there, frozen. His face, hidden by his hair. Then anger erupted from within him, "WHAT?!" he roared, and the castle shook even more than before, causing a few of the decorations on the wall to fall off, "That does it! I'm not going to stop this time!" He unsheathed his sword again.
"Elincia!" Sam yelled.
"I know. You have to stop him!" Elincia ordered.
Cameron raised my sword far above my head and roared, "ULTIMATE BACKLA-" At that moment, Sam reached for a staff and chanted, "Sleep!" Then, Cameron fell to the ground and didn't move.
"I'm sor-" Elincia tried to say, but she was cut off.
"You idiot!" Marcia yelled at Albel, "You could've doomed us all!" She slapped him upside his head, "If he wouldn't have stopped him, we could've been killed. What the hell were you thinking, Albel?!"
"Whatever," Albel replied, "I could've taken him."
Sam walked down the few steps and said, "You don't get it, do you? He's over a thousand times stronger than you!"
"Hmph." Albel replied.
Elincia stopped Sam from continuing and said, "Well, you all must be tired from the events in the past few hours. How does some sleep sound? It's getting late."
"Well, that sounds good to me." Marcia said, "My feet are killing me."
"Lucia," Elincia summoned her, "please show these four to their rooms."
"I'll take Cameron down to his room." Sam said. Sam walked over to his unconscious body and carried him to a dark, warm room and set him down gently on the bed. Before he left the room he muttered, "I told you, don't use that unless you're life is about to end."
Back in the throne room, Ike and Elincia were talking when Sam entered.
"Nice going, Sam." Ike said.
"It's the only way once he's gone that far." Sam said.
"I hope he's okay." Ike said.
"He's just fine. I just put him to sleep."
"Oh, right."
"He knows that he's not supposed to use that attack."
"Hey, why did Cameron want his room all the way down there?"
"He loves the warmth it has. I think it's a little too warm, but he likes it."
"Well, I'm going to bed. See you in the mornin'." Ike left.
"Sam," Elincia said, "Why didn't Cameron tell us about that until now?"
"About what?" Sam asked, confused. But then he understood and answered, "Oh, that. Well, he told me about it. I assumed you knew. He's delt with the same thing that I have. The 'getting beaten' part, I mean."
"...and..." Elincia said sadly.
"Our parents were killed by Ashnard too..." Sam said softly. They sat there for a minute, then Elincia stood up.
"Well, it's nothing that we can deal with. Let's get some sleep."
"Okay, goodnight." Sam and Elincia went to their seperated rooms.
The first three who woke up was Marcia, Sam, and Ike. Marcia went to the throne room, looking for the Queen. When she entered, all she saw was Sam and Ike.
"Where's Queen Elincia?" She asked the two.
"She's still sleeping." Sam said, "Is there anything you need?"
"Well, yes, there is. A few things, actually. First, I want to say I'm sorry for yesterday. Albel was not right to say the things he did."
"No problem. It bothers me that he thinks that way, though." Sam replied, "What else you need?"
"Well, I wanted to apologize to the other one... Cameron, wasn't it?"
"Oh, okay. Let me go check on him."
Elincia walked into the room and sat in her throne.
"Elincia, I'm going to go check on Cameron, okay?"
"Alright, go ahead." She yawned.
"I'm, uh, going with him." Ike said.
"That's fine." She yawned again.
"Marcia, you want to come too?" Sam asked her.
"Well, okay, since you asked." She answered.
The three walked down down to my room. On the way...
"So, where are your other teammates?" Ike asked.
"Well, Albel is probably still sleeping, Fate went into the garden to train, and Rayne... well, he's probably in town picking up girls." She rolled her eyes, "and he's most likely getting rejected." They laughed for a few seconds, then they reached Cameron's room.
As they opened the door, Sam said, "Hey wake up, Cam-" He wasn't there.
"Where did he go?" Ike asked.
"You think I know?" Sam glared at him, then he noticed something on the corner of his eye, "He didn't take his sword!"
"We gotta find him!" Ike said.
"I'll try to locate him..." Sam stepped forward and transformed into a Fox.
Marcia jumped at this sight. "Is there something wrong?" Ike asked her.
"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just... Nevermind." She said.
Sam transformed back and said, "He must've left in the darkest hour of the night."
"We got to find him." Ike said, "Maybe Elincia knows where he went."
Sam grabbed Cameron's sword and the three of them dashed up to the throne room, but the Queen was not there. They decided to look in the dining hall, but she wasn't there either.
"Where is she?" Sam said, frusterated.
"What about the sun room?" Ike suggested.
They dashed toward the sun room, which was on the far side of the castle, and they entered through a wooden door. In the room, Elincia and Reyson were sitting at a small table drinking tea.
"Elincia." Ike said.
"Yes?" She responded.
"Cameron's gone!" Sam stated.
"What?!" Elincia said, alarmed. She had almost dropped her tea.
"I don't know what happened," Sam continued, "he must've run off! He didn't even take his sword!"
"Well, is he really that important?" Reyson asked as he sipped his tea.
"Yes!" Sam remarked, "He's my best friend! And he helped us fight the Goddess War to keep us all from turning into stone!"
"Sorry, I didn't know." Reyson said without changing his expression, but after he sensed Sam's emotion, he changed.
Fayt entered the room and said, "Hello... What's going on?"
"Cameron's missing." Marcia said.
"Who?"
"The Laguz from yesterday. The one who almost killed us." She said.
"Oh, he's gone? Rayne's gonna want to hear this." Fayt said. Marcia kicked him, "Ouch!" He yelped.
"Elincia, I'm going to look for Cameron." Sam stated.
"That's fine. But be careful." She said.
"I'm going to." Ike said.
"Me too." Marcia followed.
"Hey, Marcia, don't leave without me." Fayt said, trying to keep up with her.
"You all better be careful." Elincia said.
"Wow, that's some friendship that those Laguz have, huh?" Reyson asked.
"Ever since we found them." Elincia answered.
"Wait, I'm sorry, 'found'?"
Elincia started explaining both Sam's and Cameron's story. Then, Reyson looked out the large window.
"I hope they find him." He said.
"Me too." Elincia finished.
The four of them were walking through the entrance of the castle.
"Hey, Sam, Ike!" Mist called as she ran up to them.
"What?" Marcia looked behind her.
"Sam, Ike, I have something for you." She pulled out an Elwind tome. "Sam, this is for you." She handed Sam the tome.
"Thanks, Mist. This'll help a lot!" Sam thanked her.
"Alright, let's go." Marcia said impatiently. They started walking again.
"Wait!" Mist called.
"Oh, what now?!" Marcia shouted out.
"Ike, take your sword." She handed him the Ettard.
"Thanks, Mist." Ike said.
"Yep. Oh, and it's been enchanted, so try it out when you get the chance."
"Awesome, thanks."
They continued on their way and walked down a dirt path. That's when it was getting to be a bit much.
"So, where do we look?" Fayt asked.
"Hmmm..." Sam thought for a minute while studying his map, "Ike,"
"Yeah?" Ike responded.
"Where's Mia?" Sam asked.
"In Daein, why?"
"That's where we should look first." Sam said.
"Ugh!" Marcia groaned, "All the way over there?"
"We'll get there faster if we get a head start now." Ike said.
The four of them started walking again down the Eastern Road- that connected Daein and Crimea- and met up with their supply caravan to grab their equipment. After about a half hour of speed walking...
"Oh, my god," Marcia complained, "my feet are killing me..."
"Already?" Sam looked at her surprisingly.
"This always happens with her." Fayt explained.
"Well, we can't stop now." Ike remarked.
"I'm tired..." She groaned.
"Well," Sam started as he looked between the distance of them and Crimea, "We've made some progress. I guess we could take a breather."
"Really?" Marcia said meekly.
"Let's sit down for a minute. I'm getting thirsty." Fayt laid down on his back.
"How much water do we have?" Marcia asked.
Sam and Ike stared at each other for a second, then at Marcia, "Uh... we don't... have any water yet..." Sam said in a guilty tone.
"What?!" Fayt exclaimed.
"Well," Ike started, "there should be a creek or river nearby. We could get water from there."
"Ugh, I don't want to walk!" Marcia whined.
"Okay, I'll go get some water." Sam said, "Ike, where's this creek?"
"Over there," Ike pointed at a small river. "I can't believe you missed it."
"Me too." Sam said as he grabbed their canteens and started walking down to the river.
"I'll go see if I can find any food." Ike started off in his search.
"We'll stay here, right Marcia?" Fayt looked at her.
"I'm not moving for a bit." Marcia smirked. Marcia started to take her boots off. "Ahh..." she said, relieved, "much better."
About another five minutes later, Sam and Ike came back carrying water and berries. The four ate and drank a little, then Ike, Sam and Fayt stood up, ready to go, but Marcia was still sitting down.
"What's wrong, Marcia?" Sam asked.
"I'm just getting these damn boots on." she struggled, "I hate wearing these!"
"Why don't you get new ones?"
"We don't have enough money. What we have is what we got."
"Really?"
"Yeah... It's not as bad as it sounds, though."
"So are you mercanaries or something?"
"I guess you could say that."
"Can I help you up?" Sam held out his hand.
"Oh, uh, thanks." She grabbed it and pulled herself up.
"Hey, are you guys coming?" Ike called, walking towards Daein.
"We'll catch up!" Sam called back, "Let's go Marcia."
"Alright." She said, following behind Sam.
About fifteen minutes later, Marcia started whining again.
"I'm so tired..." She whined.
"What?" Ike asked, shocked, "We just took a break fifteen minutes ago!"
"Don't be surprised," Fayt cockily remarked, "she does this all the time."
"I do not!" Marcia yelled at him.
"Whatever!" Fayt retorted.
Suddenly, Sam noticed a figure swiftly jogging towards them, and instantly knew who it was. As the person jogged up to them, their image was becoming clearer.
"Hey, Mia, where are you headed?" Sam asked.
Mia stopped jogging and caught her breath. Then she said, "I'm on my way to see Queen Elincia... Where are you guys headed?"
"We were going to Daein to ask you a question," Sam explained, "but now that you're here, you saved us the long walk."
"Huh? What is it?"
"Have you seen Cameron recently? He disappeared overnight and we can't find him."
"Well, yeah, I saw Cameron." She answered.
"Really? Great!" Sam exclaimed, then he looked around, "Uh... Where is he?"
"Probably still in Daein. He said he had to do something..."
"Did he tell you?"
"...No, he didn't..."
"Oh..."
"Mia, what do you need to see Elincia for?" Ike suddenly asked.
"I was called there by Elincia." She explained.
She's pretty hot! Fayt thought to himself, but Marcia knew what he was thinking by the way he was looking at Mia.
"Oh, okay." Sam said, "Be careful, and tell them we're fine."
"Alright, bye!" Mia started running towards the capitol.
"...Fayt, you have no chance." Marcia whispered.
"What are you-?"
"Don't act dumb, you like her."
"No I don't." Fayt said sternly.
"Oh, please, it's all over your face." Marcia laughed. Fayt blushed.
"Come on you two," Ike said, "let's go."
They continued on their way to Daein...