Chapter Four
Cameron was running across the rooftops of Nevassa, Daein's capitol, trying to reach the castle. It was about mignight when Cameron reached the front gate and jumped from the rooftop, landing right in front of the castle's guards, startling them.
"Hold it!" the guards stopped him.
"Let me through!" he roared.
"Absolutely not!" One of the guards said.
"Nobody shall disrupt the queen's rest!" The other guard scolded.
"Hmph, well then..." Cameron glared at the guards, "If you won't move aside, then I'll have to do this!" That's when he suddenly vanished.
"What the- AAAUGGHHH!!!" Cameron reappeared behind the guards and ripped through their armor with his claws.
"That'll teach you to piss me off." Cameron smirked. Then he sensed an arrow being shot from behind him. He swiftly spun around, held out his arm and snapped his fingers. The arrow caught fire and disintegratedinstantly. Then he noticed snipers on the castle walls aiming for him. "Heheheh," Cameron laughed, "This is gonna be fun..."
Cameron suddenly disappeared again, but this time, he reappeared behind the snipers. "Take this!" Cameron punched the first sniper right off of the wall, and the others were trying to capture him. Cameron just kept throwing them off the wall, and soon, the were all gone. To Cameron's surprise, there were loads of guards on the ground below him, trying to bring him down. All he did was jump from the wall and landed on top of a guard, smashing him into the ground. That's when the guards combined their forces and attacked Cameron simultaneously. He was thrown back a bit, but he got back on his feet and darted towards the guards. One by one, he slashed with his claws, brutally injuring the guards. Then a woman appeared at the castle's front door.
"All forces, withdraw!" She commanded. It was Micaiah, the Daein Queen. The guards did what they were commanded and fell back. "Cameron, what do you think you're doing?!" She yelled at Cameron.
"Micaiah," Cameron started, "Have you seen Stefan?"
"What?" Micaiah's expression looked like she was thinking, 'I'm going to kill you', which amused Cameron.
"Where's Stefan?" Cameron repeated.
"You wake me up in the middle of the night, attack my guards, and then have the nerve to act like none of this had happened?!" She was pissed.
"Well, when you put it that way, it doesn't sound good... But I really don't care. Just tell me, where is Stefan?" Cameron demanded an answer.
"No, I haven't."
"Damnit, where in the hell is he?" Cameron shouted.
"I need you to leave... Now!" She yelled louder that she ever had in her life.
"You really haven't seen him?" Cameron tried again.
"NO! I don't know where he is! Get outta here!" she screamed.
"Alright, alright... Sheesh..." Cameron started walking away when he said, "If these are your forces, you're doomed."
"What do you mean by that?" Micaiah looked at him curiously.
"What I mean is, you might want to train your guards a little more if you want to keep your title as Queen."
Sothe suddenly appeared behind him and sternly said, "I'm warning you, don't say anything you'll regret."
Cameron pushed him aside lightly and responded, "Whatever, I'm just tryin' to help you protect yourself- just in case."
"Just in case?" Sothe asked.
"Well, seeing as you two can't help me, I'm outta here. Later." Cameron started running towards the gate and jumped over it.
"Micaiah," Sothe ran up to here, "are you okay?"
She just looked out into the black and blue sky blankly. Then she replied, "...Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine."
"Well, I'm gonna hit the sack. You might want to do the same. Goodnight." Sothe walked back into the castle.
"Goodnight." Micaiah called back. Then she looked briefly back up into the sky and asked herself, "...Am I really a good queen?"
Cameron was running out of the capitol when he said, "Damn, where is he? ...Oh well, I guess I better head home, then." He picked up his speed and headed in the direction of Crimea.
Marcia slowly opened her eyes and sat up in her bed, stretching her arms up and out. Then she yawned, looked down and noticed Fayt laying on her stomach. "What the heck?" She stared down at him. You must've been worried about me... Thank you, Fayt...
That's when Sam knocked on the door and entered. "You awake yet?" He asked her.
"Yeah. Good morning. Where are we?"
"We're in a hotel. You were knocked unconscious by a thief."
"Where's Ike?"
"Still sleeping, probably. Should we wake them up?"
"Okay." Sam left the room to wake Ike up, "Alright, now... Waky, waky sleepyhead!" She poked him. Fayt felt the poke and slipped down. He was woken up, but what he had realized shocked him: his head was in Marcia's lap. Sam and Ike walked into the room at this time, witnessing everything.
Sam stifled a laugh before saying, "I-I'm not going to say anything." Ike just busted out laughing. Marcia blushed a deep crimson, and Fayt just shot up.
"M-M-Marcia I-I'm s-sor-sorry." Fayt's entire face was flushed, almost like a strawberry.
"Uh... That's, er, okay..." Marcia stuttered.
"Well, we shouldn't stick around here for too long." Ike said.
"Alright then. But if I am to get ready, I need you guys to leave." Marcia pointed at the door.
"Oh, right." Sam said, "Don't take too long."
"You can't rush looks this good." She remarked.
"Oh, before I forget," Sam started before leaving, "here you go." Sam tossed a large bag to Marcia.
"Thanks! What is it?" Marcia thanked as she caught the bag.
"Trust me, you'll like it." Sam left Marcia's room.
When Marcia reached into the bag, she felt what was in it, and smiled greatfully. "Thank you so much, Sam." She then started to get ready for the long walk to Daein, which she knew would go ten times better than it would normally go thanks to Sam's gift.
After the four of them got cleaned and ready, they met up in the main lobby. Sam finished checking them out of the hotel.
"Alright, let's head out." Sam called, signalling the others to follow.
Sam, Ike, Marcia and Fayt walked towards the eastern gate to get back on the road when Sam heard a scream on the other side of town.
"What the?!" Sam gasped.
Marcia looked at him and asked, "What's wrong?"
"I just heard someone scream."
"I didn't hear anything." Fayt stated.
"Neither did I." Ike said.
"You sure you heard something?" Marcia asked with a worried expression.
"I'm positive. It came from the North side of town." Sam looked in the direction of the northern gate.
"Should we check it out?" Fayt asked.
"Well, duh!" Marcia slapped Fayt upside the head.
"Ow! What was that for!?" Fayt yelled.
"We're helping her! That's that."
"That's the attitude that won us the war!" Ike said.
"Let's not waste time. Let's go!" Sam said as he started running. The others followed close behind.
Battle
When they reached the northern gate's entrance (or in this case, exit) Sam, Ike, Fayt and Marcia looked around for the source of the scream, but they didn't see anything. A young girl wearing a green dress and pink hair approached the Fox Laguz with tears running down her face.
"What's the matter?" Sam knelt down and met the girls's eyes.
"They took her..." she sniffled.
"They took who?"
"The bad people... They took my mama away!"
"Which way did they go?"
The little girl pointed at the gate, "They took her out there!"
"Alright. Now don't worry, my friends and I will get your mama back. Stay here." Sam stood up.
"What about Daein?" Fayt asked, getting impatient.
"Look, I don't know about you," Sam glared at him, "but this girl's mother is in danger. I'm trying to keep peace in these lands, and if there are criminals, then they either need to be taken out, or locked up in prison. Someone needs my help. I'm not letting that little girl down!"
"Ugh," Fayt groaned, "alright, fine. Let's just get this over with."
The four of them darted out the gate, down a dirt path, and into an empty field. Sam was trying to follow the scent of the trail. Then they stopped as they saw a group of burly men on the other side of the field. One of them had a woman tied up and over his shoulder. Her face was covered in a burlap sack.
"Hey," Sam yelled, "put her down if you know what's good for you!"
"Well, well, well," He started, "what do we have here? I smell a money opportunity!"
"What?" Sam said.
"Alright..." he pushed the woman into a tree and tied her to it, "you don't go anywhere. We'll take care of these weaklings."
"Weaklings? Really? You obviously don't know your history." Ike commented.
"What in the hell are you talking about?" The leader said.
"I am-" Ike was interrupted by Sam.
"Look, that doesn't matter right now." Sam said to Ike, then turned his attention at the bandits, "You're going down!"
"This'll be fun." Fayt said, looking at the oncoming bandits amusingly.
"Marcia," Sam said, "you gonna be alright?"
"I'll manage." She answered, quivering a little.
The team of four ran towards the bandits, waiting for them to attack. "Scatter!" Sam called out. Sam and Ike darted in opposite directions while Fayt and Marcia did the same. Fayt moved with Ike, and Marcia moved with Sam. The bandits went directly at Sam. "What the-?" Sam gasped, confused and overwhelmed by the number of bandits quickly surrounding him. He readied himself to retaliate. Three of the bandits lifted their axes up over their heads and were about to shop Sam into pieces when Ike swung his sword and a fast, bright blade shot out from the tip of the sword and pierced the three of them through their necks. Fayt darted to aid Sam when four more bandits were knocked back a few feet by Sam. Five more bandits appeared, and Marcia was shaking a lot.
Sam quickly dashed in front of the brigands and clawed his stomach and chest right down the middle. Ike ran up to another one and cut his from their hip up through the opposite shoulder. Fayt had stabbed the third one in the neck. There were many thoughts running through Marcia's head at that time. She knew what she had to do now... The remaining bandit ran directly towards Marcia at a blinding speed. Much too fast for Ike or Fayt to react. "Marcia!!!" Fayt shouted. Sam darted right at the bandit, attempting to stop him before he reached her. The axe was raised at Marcia, and she was about to be split, when the axe came down. Fayt tightly closed his eyes, not wanting to watch his crush get chopped in two. That's when Marcia, as quickly as she could, jumped out of the way at the last possible moment and sliced the bandit through his chest. Fayt slowly opened his eyes in amazement as Sam and Ike ran to Marcia, who just stood there motionless, and joined them.
"Marcia?" Sam asked, "Marcia, you okay?"
"Y-yeah. I-I'm f-f-fine." She was shaking like crazy. Fayt got closer to her.
"Marcia, what's wrong?" Fayt asked concerned. Blood was dripping from her back.
"Marcia! You're hurt." Ike stepped forward, but Marcia held up a hand and stopped him.
"I'm fine. It's nothing..." She grunted. Then she started to fall when Fayt caught her.
"Marcia, you need to be treated!" Fayt said.
"I'll do it." Sam walked behind Marcia, "it doesn't really look that bad. I could heal it, no sweat." He reached behind him, grabbed a Mend staff and held it over the cut. The bandit hit her with the blade of the axe right before she ran through him with her sword. "Ike, go get the woman. I'll stay here and heal her."
"Got it." Ike ran towards the woman.
"Heal her, quick!" Fayt demanded.
"Would you be patient? I'm on it!" Sam continued to hold the staff over the wound and started chanting words from the Ancient Language. A blue aura surrounded the wound and started closing it. Sweat was dripping from Fayt's face and Marcia winced a little as she was healed... After about two minuted of healing, the wound was gone.
"Thanks, Sam." Fayt said.
"Don't worry about it. We're all friends, right? It's what I do." Sam stated. "Marcia, can you move?"
"I think so... thank you." She said as she stood up.
"That was scary." Fayt commented.
"Yeah... Are you alright now?" Sam asked.
"The pain is gone. It's a miracle." Marcia said.
"No, it's magic!" Sam said. The three of them started laughing when Ike rushed over to them with the woman running behind her.
"Ike! Ike, I love you!" She called. She was dressed in a pink and red cloak and had long, black hair.
"Ack! Get away from me! What's wrong with you!?" Ike shouted.
"Excuse me, ma'am?" Sam tried to ask, but she just ran right past her. "Ike, who is that?"
"It's Aimee!" Ike yelled.
"Oh, from the merchant band." Sam said. "Wait, she has a daughter... How in the hell?"
"Ike, I've always wanted you! Come 'ere!" Aimee just kept on chasing Ike. Sam, Fayt and Marcia just busted out laughing their asses off watching this chase. After about fifteen minutes of chasing, Aimee and Ike started to grow tired, and they fell on the ground.
Sam lent out a friendly hand and helped Ike up, saying, "Wow, uh, that was, er, awkward." Sam stiffled a laugh.
"Oh, shut up." Ike said, punching Sam's arm jokingly.
"Ike, you can get a head start back to town if you want and let that girl know that her mother has been rescued." Sam said.
"Um... Okay, thanks." Ike thanked and started walking back towards the town.
"Fayt, how's Aimee doin'?" Sam asked.
"She's out of breath, but she seems fine." Fayt answered.
"Now what are we going to do?" Marcia asked.
"Well-" Sam started, only to be interrupted by an arrow that just barely grazed his face, which resulted in bleeding.
A voice appeared out of nowhere, "What did you do to her?"
"We didn't do anything!" Fayt called back.
"She just started chasing our general and wore herself out, honest!" Marcia explained.
"Wait... That voice..." Sam looked in the direction of where the arrow came from. He recognized it immediately.
"I don't believe you for a second." The voice said, "I'm gonna kill you all right here with only three arrows."
"Shinon, if you fire at us, I won't resist to attack!" I called.
"What are you saying?" He jumped out of a tree.
"In other words, if you shoot, I'll retaliate, and you'll die."
"...You're a Laguz, aren't you?" He said.
"If you can't tell who I am, then you might remember this name: Ike."
"You're Sam, aren't you."
"Duh! Now put that bow down before you hurt someone." Shinon put his bow on his back and walked over to Aimee, lifting her to her feet.
"You okay, Babe?" Shinon said.
"Oh, thank you, Shinon." she said.
Sam just stared with his jaw dropped. Then he asked, "You two? You're- But I thought- ...Huh?"
"We got together after the Goddess war." Aimee replied.
"Wait, if you're with him, then why are you still in love with the General?"
"Oh, please! Get real! I was never into him. I was just teasing him. It was a joke!" She explained.
"...Uhh, okay..." Sam just backed up a few steps slowly.
"Let's be off now." Shinon stated.
"Thanks for saving me." Aimee said as they walked towards the town. Then Aimee started telling Shinon about how she was rescued and blah, blah blah, blah blah...
"So, uh... What do we do now?" Marcia asked again.
"Well, lets go, uh, get Ike and then we can get back on the road..." Sam said quietly and confused, "To Daein!.." He showed little enthusiasm.
"Okay!" Fayt and Marcia started running back to town. Sam was getting his thoughts organized before trailing behind them.
After an hour of explainations and such, the four of them got back on the road and headed to Daein's capitol, Nevassa. After traveling on the road for a day, they finally made it to the capitol. It was well past midnight, but they went to an inn that was by the edge of town.
"Here's the inn." Ike said. "Let's check in and get a good night's sleep."
"I'm all for that." Marcia said.
When they walked in, the woman behind the counter greeted them, "Good evening. Are you going to be spending the night here?"
"Yes, ma'am." Ike said.
"Okay, for the four of you, that'll be... three hundred gold."
"Alright, I'll get this." Sam said and pulled out the money, but Ike stopped him.
"No, you paid last time. I'll get it." Ike said as he gave the receptionist the gold.
"Thank you. Your rooms are the last four on the left side of the hall on this floor."
"Thank you." The four of them said. They started walking to their rooms when the lady stopped them.
"Um, I'll need your weapons." She said, presenting the table.
"Er...why?" Fayt raised an eyebrow.
"It may disturb and worry the guests." She explained, then she said, "Don't worry- we'll take excellent care of them."
"Uh... Alright, then." Sam said as he put his blade down on the desk. Fayt and Ike did the same thing. Marcia wasn't moving.
"Marcia." Ike said. She didn't answer. "Marcia... Marcia!"
"Huh? What?" Marcia snapped out of it.
"Put your sword with ours on the desk." Ike commanded.
"Um, okay..." She placed her blade down.
"Thank you, enjoy your stay." the lady said.
"Well, I'm gonna go get some sleep." Ike said.
"Me too." Marcia replied.
"Alright, let's get some sleep." Sam said, "Goodnight, everyone."
The four of them went into their seperate rooms and slept. In Marcia's room, she was thinking what happened the previous day. Then she started thinking, Hmmm... I wonder what Rayne and Albel are doing. I hope their alright, and not worrying about me... Then she too, drifted into sleep...