A/N:
WARNING, shonen-ai and some pervertedish jokes and pairings that are considered crack and swearing
REVIEW. I write to improve. And read reader reviews.
FLAME. Sure, why not?
DISCLAIMER: 4minutes claims only the plot, the tactician and the lemonade as hers.
4minutes apologizes for any writing inconsistencies, lame jokes, or dissatisfaction caused by reading this.
Tactician's Quest
3
"My Lord…" said Marcus in an anguished tone.
"My Lady…" Kent pounded the ground with his fist.
"…that idiot prince…" Mathew murmured.
The three lord's most trusted vassals, as well as Lyndis' Legion, Serra, Oswin, Isadora, and Lowen
huddled together in their collective shame speaking in mournful voices. Their lords were gone; they had failed in their promise to Elliwood's mother/ Lyn's grandfather/ Hector's older brother. What kind of vassals were they to allow their lords to leave without them?
"Lord Uther'll have my hide if he finds out…" Mathew muttered.
"He already does have it," Serra quipped, which Oswin quickly covered with a loud cough and a hard glare at the cleric. Serra smiled all innocence and cuteness.
"LORD ELLIWOOD!" Marcus howled.
"There, there," said Merlinus consolingly, emerging from his tent, "Have a vulnerary. I'm afraid that's all I have to drink at the moment."
0
Tactician's Tent
"Well- that went well!" Mao congratulated himself. From what he could discern from the voices outside, Kent was doing a pretty good job keeping things in order for the army-turned-mercenary group. Mao grinned at the idea of hiring out the crew for whatever reasons. It sounded ridiculous, even Elliwood was a bit perturbed at Mao's idea. Hector thought it was hilarious and Lyn objected to it. The three Lords had originally wanted to leave the army and pursue Nergal on their own, but Mao was quick to give detailed descriptions of the kind of deaths they would meet without his, and the army's, support. Elliwood objected, saying that with the holy blade that he would obtain, he'd have enough strength to defeat Nergal. This pissed him off majorly. So the prince thought that he alone surpassed the whole fluxing army that Mao had painstakingly gathered and trained? Mao was so ticked off that he almost gave the foolish lord his blessing to leave. But then he remembered the reason why they had been together for so long. Elliwood, quite plainly, was the leader of the army. Elliwood's vassals and friends and people who were drawn under his charismatic leadership bowed to Elliwoods, as well as Hector's and Lyn's command, which allowed the tactician, Mao, who was closest to the lords, to have free rein over the army. Without Elliwood, everything would collapse utterly, and Elibe was as good as doomed. And so Mao held back and reasoned and persuaded and argued tirelessly deep into the night until finally, an agreement was reached upon: the three lords would find the holy weapons while Mao remained to keep everything together. Once the lords accomplished their tasks, they would meet with the army and lead them to where they would battle Nergal and his morphs. At last, Elliwood, Hector, and Lyn departed and Mao collapsed, utterly exhausted, into his bed, tried to incapacitate the mage three hours later, gulped down his lemonade and made the dreadful announcement to the army, all with his eyes half-closed and dreaming of sleep.
...of which he would have to go without until the blasted sun went down. It was all too much, sometimes. His last master, Roy, had been so much easier to get along with.
Mao threw himself onto the bed, barely making a sound as he pondered over switching to a different occupation. He immediately rejected the idea of replacing Nils as the local fortune teller, because the dragon-boy's predictions were actually spot on unless he began doing love readings which, horrifyingly enough, weren't entirely off and very popular with the likes of Serra and Sain. Scratch firing Merlinus and taking over the convoy as well, cos if the old man went, Marcus wouldn't have anyone to hang out with and Kent's semi-leadership position would be in jeopardy when the old knight began looking for something else to do. And Mao liked the way Kent handled things very much.
"Eeeeh…I guess I'll just to battle tactics after all."
And with that Mao sprung up and called Kent, Pent, and Louise meet him at Merlinus' tent in an hour's time.
"I have an hour to decide our first course of action," he said to himself.
0
"We have the morning off." Said Rebecca, joining the group of Lowen, Canas, Nino, Oswin and Wallace. No one asked how she knew this. Information always seemed to fall easily in Rebecca's hands when she wanted to know the on-goings of their camp.
Lowen was watching the iron cooking pot over the fire but everyone else looked up at her in interest. Rebecca continued. "Lord Mao wants to take some time to plan, I suppose, and it looks as though we'll be like this for a long time. The way he spoke to Merlinus, it all sounded a bit long-term…things like, 'contracts' and 'groups' and stuff."
"Maybe we are to be hired out as mercenaries," Canas suggested.
"Or something else," said Nino.
Rebecca frowned. "Meaning…?"
Nino shrugged. "Weeell…way back then before…b-before the Black Fang changed 'n all…" she said that part quickly and flinched only a bit, "We did other jobs…not just killing bad people, other stuff…quiet stuff that no one knows about.
"Of course, L…Lloyd and Linus were…were far too honorable to do stuff like that, Father…Brandon was, too, but he sent out members to do it anyway…you know, the ones who were really good…we needed money…Linus would have nothing to do with dirty stuff like that, but he wasn't the leader…Lloyd did a few jobs like that himself, actually…he was really good…anyway, so other than bringing justice, the Black Fang also hired itself as…" Nino blushed.
"As…Nino, what!" Rebecca cried, her eyes getting wider and wider at Nino's descriptions.
"…as contract killers…" Nino mumbled her face red. "I know, it's embarrassing! We, the Black Fang, doing dirty stuff like that! I agreed with Linus, the idea of killing someone innocent just cos someone paid you a lot…it's horrible!" Nino shivered, her green hair shaking at the thought of it.
The rest of the group, meanwhile, heaved a sigh. Assassinations, they could handle. Their imaginations on the other hand, were getting way too out of hand…
0
"Ah, seems like we'll be in for quite a time," Legault mused, reclining on a tree trunk.
Mathew, who had been about to do the same glared at him and said nothing.
"Yes, your dislike is fairly obvious…you don't think you could show me something else, hmm?" The Ostia spy ignored him, instead pulling his bright red cloak over his nicely toned shoulders and standing up to leave.
Legault pouted; he had been looking forward to chatting with the thief, and now he was leaving before they'd even started. "If you think of it, we have more than just our occupations in common, don't you think?" Legault called to the agitated thief.
Mathew froze. His fists were clenched so tightly they were shaking. Slowly turning to the Black Fang ex-member, he hissed, "You and I have nothing in common. My job has nothing to do with yours! I won't have anything to do with you lot!" You lot who killed Leila!
Legault was unfazed, though he could almost hear Mathew's screamed thoughts. "Well, you might reconsider. It seems we both have a certain fondness for a green-haired fighter. Now that's something we share, is it not?"
This time, Mathew's expression was priceless.
Legault stood up and yawned. He'd done what he'd set out to do, and he was satisfied. He memorized Mathew's face, intending to replay the expression in his mind from time to time.
"You don't mean…"
"What do you think I mean?" said Legault in his silkiest voice and most clueless, innocent expression.
That did it. Mathew's face flushed red and his hands weren't shaking now, they were on their way to his weapons.
"Tsk, tsk!" Legault admonished. "No fighting in the camp, that's one of the rules, right? After all, we are comrades, are we not?"
Face still burning, Mathew shot a dagger that zipped passed Legault's ear and deep into the tree trunk behind the Hurricane. With a final glare, the thief turned and strode purposefully towards the Sacaean's group, intending to keep his innocent myrmidon well away from the likes of him.
It was only when the last of Mathew's bright red cloak disappeared among the trees that Legault punched the air and chuckled softly. Children. They sure do brighten the day.
0
"What's gotten Mathew so angry?" wondered Wil. He nudged his red-haired superior and pointed.
"None of our business, I'm sure," Raven growled in reply, but the happy-go-lucky teen wasn't put off in the least bit.
"C'mon, Raven! He's our comrade, and the least we could do is keep him company! I mean, he's angry and you're (almostalwayscough) angry, you guys will get along fine! Who knows, maybe we can help him!" said Wil, as if helping people were the happiest thing in the world.
In this idiot's mind, it probably is, thought Raven. But all he said was, "Humph…," which the overjoyed Wil seemed to take as a 'Sure, I'd be glad to let you drag me over to where all the Sacaens plus Mathew are sitting!' because that was exactly what Wil proceeded to do, saying "Let's go over to where the Sacaeans plus Mathew are sitting!"
And amazingly enough, Raven went.
Leaving Lucius alone by their fire, thoroughly befuddled. There went the notion that his Lord Raymond could never, ever be dragged into something unwillingly. Drugged, maybe, but never dragged. Picture Raven, trudging along with his hand being tugged by Wil who was chattering excitedly, perfectly content with replies that sounded like '…' followed by a growl and accented by a hard glare. And yet…Raven there was Raven, reluctantly letting out a few words to Mathew at Wil's enthusiastic encouragement. Raven was talking to Mathew, a spy from Ostia, whose prince was Lord Hector, who just happened to be vehemently hated by Raven. Dear Elmine, what is this insanity?
At that point, Erk took the opportunity to sit next to his befuddled best friend, looking rather worse for wear, with his hair sticky out in places and his robes wrinkled, as if he'd just gotten out of bed.
"Your hair is sticking out in places, your robes untidy, and you look as though you've just gotten out of bed." Lucius was quick to note, Erk's disheveled appearance momentarily distracting him from Raven.
"In a way, I did."
"Hmm…you're a mess, Erk. People will get the wrong ideas if they ever see you coming out of the tactician's tent in that state. You'll have to tell him to be careful about things like that." Advised Lucius.
"Thank you, Lucius. I'm sure that will go over very well the next time this happens to me."
Hmm. It must have been that bad if Erk wasn't using conjunctions, Lucius observed. "What was it this time?"
Erk groaned and buried his face in his sleeves. "The attack of the sleeping tactician."
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4
Lucius giggled. "The Attack of The Sleeping Tactician? That's twice this month, Erk."
Erk glared. "Don't say it like that's its name...Elmine, how on Elibe was I supposed to know that he'd only slept for three hours when I went to wake him? I'm not getting any better at this…"
Lucius patted Erk's back sympathetically. "You do a good job Erk, if only he'd pay you every now and then…"
Erk's head sunk deeper into his arms. Oops, Lucius winced. Shouldn't have said that. "Let's talk about something else, Lucius…I get a headache every time that disorganized person is mentioned…"
"Ha-ha…"
Lucius then began to tell him about Raven possibly being drugged by Wil, but Erk pointed out that if anyone in the camp could actually drug anyone, it would be Lowen or Rebecca, because they cooked. Lucius countered, saying that Wil could've asked any of them to do it for him, which made Rebecca even more suspicious because she and Wil were friends. Erk voiced out the possibility of Raven actually wanting to help Mathew because Wil wanted to, but Lucius shot it down immediately, saying "Only Priscilla is supposed to have that power," which Erk agreed to, being one of the few people who were in on the sibling's secret. Theories flew around for a bit, and as Lucius began to describe a particularly elaborate one involving blackmail and animals, he was interrupted by someone suddenly materializing between the two magic users, saying-
"Did it hurt when you fell out of heaven?"
-one of the worst lines, ever.
"Yeah, I knew it was a bad one," Mao admitted, settling himself on Lucius back as if the monk were a personal reclining chair. "Got it from some awful book, almost made me throw up, just reading it…"
"Oof," said Lucius.
Mao scowled. "That is the exact same sound Erky made this morning."
"Well, with the way you fling yourself at people, no shock." Erk muttered darkly.
Mao shot him a glare that went unseen because the tactician's spiky blond hair flopped over his eyes. "
"Mngh…sleepy…so much…stuff to do…" Mao mourned for himself. "Bury me now, Erk. I can't move…'nd everything's so dark…can't see a thing…"
"Yes, that tends to happen when you close your eyes," informed Erk when he brushed away the tactician's bangs. "And I can't bury you with Lucius, I think Raven's reserving that spot."
"Erk!" Lucius cried indignantly, sitting up quickly so that Mao almost fell of his back ("Nice one," said Erk). "You make Raymond sound like some sort of a…a…"
"Perve?" Mao offered.
Lucius blinked. "What does that mean?"
"Like Sain," Erk clarified.
"Oh. Well, yes, that's what I meant."
"Sleeepy…" Mao whined…
…and promptly fell asleep.
Lucius poked him.
"………"
"Lethargic," Erk commented.
Lucius nodded as the sleeping tactician slid of his back and onto the grass.
"Oof," Mao blinked awake for a second, before his eyelids drooped ever his golden eyes again, resuming slumber.
Silence.
"I'd better take him back," Erk muttered. With surprising ease, the mage scooped up the sleeping tactician in his arms and bade goodbye to Lucius.
"Erky…Merlinus' tent…"
"Sure. Be there in ten minutes. Now go to sleep!"
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