You Stand for What You Believe

"She doesn't like me like that sir. And plus, I'm a spy, we don't have relationships," Matt said firmly.

"Trust me, I've talked to her. She is in love with you as much as you love her. Now I'm telling you, I can manipulate everyone from staying away from my tent for at least two hours. I can bait her there and you two can kiss and-" Vincent was cut off.

"Enough! The answer is no Vincent," Matt said turning to leave the strategy tent.

"You're an idiot Matts. Just try my idea and see," Vincent said exasperatedly.

"No. I won't lose her friendship over something like this." And Matt left the tent.

How the hell did he become a spy? He's so…stupid!

"He doesn't like me like that sir. I can just tell," Heather insisted as she and Vincent sharpened their knives.

"You gotta believe me, I've spoken with him. He practically can't live without you. I can get you two uninterrupted time for a few hours-"

"No," Heather stated. "I don't want to risk our friendship over something trivial like this."

"Lowell? I know you're out there," Vincent said rustling the fabric of the tent. "You know I'm right, right?"

There was silence, then, "Yes."

"See? Even Lowell can see it. C'mon, just let me try?" Vincent urged.

Heather sheathed her knives. "No." And she left.

After a long minute, Vincent opened his mouth, "Lowell?"

"Yes, I'll help you," his phrase as short as ever.

Matt wandered the camp. They being a mere few days away from the meeting point with the Plegian royalty gave them all the more reason to patrol the camp. The majority of the army was still at Port Ferox, but a fair few number of soldiers came with them.

Ugh…now I have to go to a strategy meeting with Vincent about escape routes in the meeting point. Oh well, least I can annoy his ass off!

Matt walked over to the spymaster's tent. He had decided to have their meeting there. His prediction was that Vincent and Lowell and Heather would already be there, making him last.

Heather…

She was everything he had ever looked for in a woman. She was beautiful, funny and smart. But he was a spy. Before the former Exalt had disassembled the intelligence force, he knew several spies who had gotten into relationships, only to have them used against them. Whether by blackmail or murdered, no relationship ever seemed to work out for them.

As Vincent would say, 'Life's a bitch.' It'd be nice if life were fair sometimes.

Matt arrived at Vincent's tent. And no one was there.

…'kay. Odd.

He heard footsteps behind him. He looked behind him to see Heather sauntering into the tent.

Heather sighed. Yet another strategy meeting. But she respected Vincent. Not many could hop professions like he did.

He's not exactly an expert though… But after mine and Matt's spy training, only Lowell will be better than him!

Matt…that name. A man who didn't return her feelings. Such a handsome one. One of the kindest she knew. Like on her first day at the agency…

Several years ago

Heather took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Just today she had passed her training and the spy's test. She was ready to be a spy. It had been her life's dream. From a poor orphaned girl growing up on the streets to a spy. Not many were as fortunate as her.

"Can I help you?" a voice asked beside her.

She whipped around, startled. How had he snuck up on her?

"Um…maybe?" she said slowly.

The man laughed. Now that she examined him, he wasn't much older than her. Actually, he looked younger! Who was he?

"Haha, are you here because you passed the test?" She nodded. "Just like me! I passed two weeks ago, it's good to see a fellow spy that hasn't been in the game for years on end."

So that's how he snuck up on me! He's good.

"Great!" she said. He was a nice person. Much nicer than some of the men she had met on the streets. "Do you think you can help me move in?" She gestured to the suitcase next to her.

"Of course!" he grabbed the case himself.

Such a gentleman. As if spies could ever be.

"What did you say your name was?" she asked curiously.

"I didn't. But it's Matt. What about you?"

"I'm Heather."

She saw the tent in her vision. Lowell had probably beaten her. She was a little early though. Maybe she'd be first.

She saw, in the distance, Matt walk quickly into the tent. He didn't see her.

Maybe I can surprise him!

She pushed the headband that kept her hair in place up and began to sneak towards the tent. Her partner in crime was standing inside the tent, and he was the only one.

Lowell isn't even here? Dang, guess he is human.

She felt her foot brush up on a leaf. She cursed silently as Matt turned around. Surprise ruined.

"Ah Heather! You're here early! Or, Vincent and Lowell are late," he laughed that charming laugh of his.

"Lowell being late is an oxymoron," she said in a factual tone.

"Oxy-what? You know big words are evil, I get enough from Vincent!" he groaned.

Matt sat down on a nearby chair. One of the four in a circle. Heather took the one next to him.

"Too bad we don't have apples to juggle. I even have my knives ready!" Matt pouted.

Heather laughed, Matt and her had gone into the city on one of their days off a while back. They found a traveling performer who taught Heather to juggle. Though she did have to pay him a fair bit before he agreed.

"Partners 'til the end?" she grinned saying their old promise.

"And forever on!" Matt finished.

They had to pick a partner for missions in their first month at the agency. They chose each other of course. Like the blade and hilt of a knife.

Vincent would be proud of that analogy.

They waited, conversing for about ten minutes. And no one showed up.

"Wonder what's taking them so long…" Matt trailed off.

"Vincent is probably with Anna. And losing track of time like usual. Lowell…hmm. Maybe he got hooked up with a girl?" Heather said slyly.

"Only when hell freezes over," Matt muttered.

She laughed again. He could never cease to make her laugh. Another thing she loved about him.

Add it to the already long list.

After another ten minutes, they still were alone.

"This is really creeping me out. Is Vince messing with us?" Matt said puzzled.

"Wouldn't put it past him," Heather said. Matt chuckled.

Hmm, but what would Vincent have to gain from messing with them? Besides fun that is.

She shivered. They still were in Feroxi lands, it was still cold, though the snow had vanished from the ground.

Matt saw her shivering. He stood up and took off his red cloak and put it around her shoulders.

His hands are so warm…

"Don't you need the warmth as well Matt?" she asked surprised.

"Nah, just as long as you're warm, I'll be fine," he said confidently.

How sweet…

She stood up and sat beside Matt and put the cloak around his shoulders as well. They had no distance between them. Heather was blushing profusely. Though after all her spy training, she was able to cover her emotions well. She looked at him from the corner of her eyes. He had his arm around her. Only one thing would make this better…

You know Heather, it's now or never.

What?

You could just kiss him, and put all your worries behind you…

She turned her head and looked at Matt. He did the same thing as her. They stared into each other's eyes for a long moment, then at the same time, leaned towards each other. Their eyes were shut, and they kissed.

Oh Naga!

It was the best moment of her life.

Vincent stared at the Plegian King. He was so familiar…it was eerie.

"So you'll give fund our conquest and give us our ships?" Chrom said astounded.

"Why certainly," Validar's cold voice echoed through the halls. "Valm is a threat to the whole continent, not just Ylisse and Ferox."

"We cannot thank you enough Your Majesty," Vincent said.

"We'll be on our way now. Thank you again," Chrom said.

"Just a moment, there is one more of our entourage you have yet to meet. Our hierophant, the highest of his order in all of Plegia," Validar motioned to a hooded figure Vincent had not noticed before.

The man walked forward slowly, his face obscured by the hood of his cloak.

"Excuse me, good hierophant, but in Ylisse it is customary for people to remove their cowls when speaking to royalty," Chrom said cautiously.

"This isn't Ylisse, but I suppose I can make an exception," he said in a familiar voice. He pulled his hood back. "I'm Vincent."

It was another Vincent. Identical.

"What the fuck!?" Vincent gasped.

"We're sorry to have taken up your time, King Chrom. But we must be off. The road can be treacherous on the way back, do be careful…" Validar and the Vincent clone left.

What…is this…madness?

"Son of a bitch…who was that?" Vincent muttered. A person with his face…identical to his face. It was unnatural. Maybe he was a twin…

"Vincent…"

"What the hell?!" Vincent gasped.

He doubled over with pain. His head felt like it was about to burst! He screamed in pain.

"Join me Vincent… Join your father!"

Vincent could see Validar in his vision.

Father?…OH HELL NO!

"…Lies." Vincent said in pain.

"Vincent!" a voice cried in the distance.

The pain in Vincent's head lessened for a few moments while Validar was distracted. Vincent whipped out his knife and stabbed his leg. His pain snapped him out of the spell. He gasped for air, and when he looked up, Validar was gone, replaced by Anna running towards him.

"Vincent what happened!?" she said shrilly as she pulled out her mend staff. She muttered whatever she muttered while healing.

"Validar…he told me…I was his son," Vincent said breathing heavily.

"He said what!?" Anna gasped.

"Later…I'll tell you later." He got up slowly. "What's happening? I heard screams…I think."

"Risen, the camp is being attacked," Anna said simply. "We need to stop them from stealing all our newly acquired Plegian gold!"

"How CAWtistrophic!" a high voice said.

The two of them looked at each other and looked around them. A man stood behind them, surrounded by crows.

"Er…what?" Vincent said.

"Nyah ha ha! You're all trapped! The crows told me that, you know, CAW CAW CAW!" the man said.

He's more insane than I am. I like him already.

"Are you here to help us?" Anna said worriedly.

"Nyah ha, do crows eat dead zombies?" he said.

"Er…no?" Vincent said, pulling out his tome.

"Yep! I'm here to help you! I'm Henry!" he shouted over the cawing of his crows.

…I never meet normal people.

"Whatever Henry, let's go have your crows eat those zombies."

Who would have thought that the creepy creep Marth who wasn't a man but was a woman was actually from the future sent to the past to gain the knowledge of the present and was Chrom's daughter? Not me. Didn't see that one coming.

Vincent sat in a tent as the people he asked for arrived. Thankfully, everyone seemed to be showing up. Sitting in a circle were Anna, Matts, Heather, Lowell, Gaius, Kid and Henry.

"Alright, you're probably wondering why I called you all here," Vincent began. "Chrom has given me permission to form an elite team of individuals that'll handle stealth operations in the future. You seven and I will all be in it if you agree."

There was a mutter around the circle. And Gaius raised his hand, "What kind of operations? Will we be stealing candy?"

Vincent chuckled and shook his head, "No, like poisoning an enemy commander, or disarming siege weapons. That sort of stuff."

"We're in!" Heather and Matt said together.

Aw, they're holding hands…it worked!

"Fine." Lowell of course.

Anna squeezed his hand that she was holding.

Kid nodded eagerly. He had gotten taller…that was hard to compute.

"So long as I get my candy," Gaius muttered.

"Nyah ha ha, we get to kill people? Fun!" Henry said ecstatically.

Vincent grinned, "Glad we're all in agreement. Now, for our first mission, there were some ruins we passed. I want to go check them out, and although it is unlikely, we may encounter bandits. So this mission is strictly voluntary. Any one wanna come?"

Everyone raised their hand, one by one. Except Lowell. When everyone looked at him expectantly, he pulled his pipe from his mouth and said, "Fine."

Huzzah!

Morgan hid behind a pillar. The creepy zombie things had been following her for a long time now. She had managed to lose them though.

Where am I anyway? How did I get here?

Morgan hugged the Arcfire tome to her chest. It was her father's.

She peeked out around the pillar, brushing the red hair out of her vision. Perhaps she could find a way out of the place and escape?

No, that'd put her at a disadvantage. The zombies could easily catch up to her.

But they'd find her eventually in here as well…

Oh father, what would you do?

There was a crash. She peeked out from behind the pillar again. A man stood in one of the two doorways, burning a zombie with fire. He looked very familiar. She stepped out from behind her hiding place.

The man reacted instantly, he held up his hand and a fireball materialized. "Oh wait, you're human, not Risen. Well, you must be with us then. Watch out for the demon zombies from hell." He walked through the other doorway. Then came back and said, "Nice coat. Purple is cool. See ya Purple!" He walked back through the doorway.

She walked to the doorway to see the familiar man get hit by a ball of dark magic, launching him backward.

He looks like father! I'll kill that mage!

She conjured a large fireball and killed the Risen with it. She ran over to the man's body. He was breathing.

"Father!" she cried out.

The man looked up, "I'm Vincent, not a father. And I'll be dead in two minutes unless you help me. Then I'll be dead in ten, but my posse should be there by then. Now, focus!" he shouted at Morgan. "My organs are going to melt on the inside unless you help me. Now say these words exactly: Tenebris expelle a te huic-"

"Cures eum a maledicto in perditionem. I remember father," she said, trying to act calm.

"How the hell do you remember something that I've never told you? And I'm not your father! Now say it!" Vincent began to cough up blood.

Morgan put her hands on top of Vincent and chanted, "Tenebris expelle a te huic. Cures eum a maledicto in perditionem. Tenebris expelle a te huic. Cures eum a maledicto in perditionem. Tenebris expelle a te huic. Cures eum a maledicto in perditionem." She continued for several minutes. Vincent began to cough up less blood and breath lighter.

"Nyah ha! Oh dear, what have you gotten yourself into Vincent?" a white haired man said as he strode over. He knelt beside Vincent and laid his hands on Vincent and said, "Recéde tremebant tenebris! Sanguinem stragemque lux tua incantatores, et liber iste, Vincent, ex tuum præsidium."

Vincent jolted up and coughed out black smoke. "Sonuvabitch! Ugh, thanks Henry."

"I can't let the leader of the team die! That would be a CAWtastrophe!" he laughed at his joke.

Vincent looked at Morgan intently and said, "Who the hell are you?"

She was puzzled, this was father. How did he not remember her? "It's me! Morgan, your daughter!"

"Not ringing any bells… Wait, do you know Lucina?" Vincent said curiously this time.

"Nope! Who's that?" she said.

Vincent sighed, "No way in hell did I see this coming. Now Morgan was it? I may be your father, but you're from the future. Do I even look old enough to be your father? I'm like, twenty five. Too young."

"But…but how did I get here?" she sniffed.

"I don't know kid, but if I'm your dad from another time, you better come with me. Maybe meeting your mother will make sense of this mess," he shrugged.

Morgan perked up instantly, "Whatever you say father!" Then she began to bombard him with questions (Much to Henry's amusement). All of which centered on tactics.

"So I guess I taught you tactics in the future?" Vincent asked curiously.

"Yep! I wanted to be just like you!" she said proudly, which got a small smile out of Vincent.

"Perhaps I can learn a thing or two from the future me by talking to you…" he trailed off.

Several days later

Vincent walked into the pub. He had meant to do this a few days ago, but with Morgan… Anna had actually fainted. It was quite funny. Morgan was with Anna in her shop today. And now was his time to do this. He didn't trust the Plegian captains of the ships they were given. So he was recruiting.

"Captain Colby?" he asked the large man with an axe next to his chair.

"What d'you want?" he said taking a drink from his mug.

"I need a crew," he stated.

"And why do I care?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Because I'm the tactician of the Ylissean league and Valm will overrun us if we don't have crews for our ships," he leaned forward.

"I'm one man, I don't have enough men and women for your ships." He set his mug down and met Vincent's gaze for the first time.

"I think you might," Vincent said with a hint of cockiness.

"Do you know who I am?" he growled.

"You're Captain Colby of the Leviathan."

"Try again," the captain said.

"You're Captain Colby, captain of the most feared vessel in these waters. A surprisingly just crew you have from the rumors," Vincent said in detail.

"Try again," Colby said coldly.

"I don't know-…Ah, I see. You're Captain Colby, the Pirate Lord. Every Pirate in the world ultimately answers to you. Which is why you are the person I'm looking for," Vincent finished smoothly.

"I knew you was a smart man, tactician. Now, why should I help you?" he said in a less angry voice.

"You know many able captains and sailors, we need both. It's easy to put two and two together," Vincent said quickly.

"Do you know what a Pirate Lord's role is, tactician? It's to lead pirates into battle when there is a conflict that threatens piracy or the land that we live in. Does your enemy threaten that?" the Captain said.

"I can hardly say Walhart has been letting your piracy occur as it has been in Ferox. Do you want monthly pirate hunts like in Valm?" Vincent asked.

The Pirate Lord looked at him for a while and then scratched his beard. He ran a hand through his red purple hair and said, "Not bad kid. You made a good case for this old pirate here. And you actually found out I was the Pirate Lord, how did you do that?"

Vincent grinned mischievously, "Do we have a deal?"

"Yes we do boy, now do tell me how," Colby said eagerly.

"Well, this man I know named Lowell…"