11 HOURS (& BEYOND)
"Oh crackers…this isn't good." Marcia said as she walked in tiny circles outside the meeting tent.
"I know, I know..." Mia replied as she tried her best no to get nervous. "I know, I know…"
"When Elincia finds out…"
"When Ike finds out…"
Gatrie ran up to them, breathing heavily. "I…couldn't…find…her…"
Marcia and Mia looked at each other.
"So what do we do now?" Gatrie said as he began to breathe normally.
"We tell everyone that Nephenee is missing." Mia said.
The three of them sighed heavily as they waited in front of the huge tent were an important meeting was being held by all the important people.
"What are you three doing out here?" Lucia asked them as the three looked at her.
Marcia was the one who responded, "We are waiting for the meeting the end…"
"Why?"
"Ummm…" Marcia looked at the other two for help as Lucia frowned at her.
"Nephenee's missing…" Mia began, "…and…"
Lucia raised her arms in the air and laughed a little, "Not again…"
Gatrie frowned, not knowing what Lucia had meant. He turned to stare at the two other girls who had the same expression of confusion on their face.
"Lady Lucia…what do you mean 'not again'?" Marcia asked.
Lucia shook her head, "Forget it, it's nothing."
The other three were still confused.
Ignoring their looks and remembering her duties, Lucia continued to speak, "Are you all absolutely sure she's missing? You're positive she just didn't sleep somewhere else or that she woke up really early to train or something…"
"We're positive! I stayed outside her tent for the whole day, yesterday, and she never came out. And after dinner, I went to take her some food, since she wasn't there during the fight and she still didn't want to come out!" Mia said in a really loud and obnoxious tone.
"Yeah, and I watched over her almost all night and today went I tried to apologize again, she wasn't there!" Marcia added.
"Wait! Why were you going to apologize?" Lucia asked.
"Because of Gatrie! It was all his fault!" Mia squealed.
"No it wasn't! You two told me too! " he responded.
"We did not!" Marcia yelled back.
"You misunderstood everything!" Mia yelled at the same time
"STOP!" Lucia yelled, interrupting their argument. "What happened to Nephenee, Marcia?"
"Well, yesterday…Mia and I thought it would be a good idea to help Nephenee with her shyness so we asked Gatrie to talk to her but he…um…"
Lucia's frown was almost too much for Marcia to bear.
"…he kissed Nephenee…" Mia finished silently.
"And she got upset because of that?"
"It was her first kiss…"
"Oh…" Lucia nodded, understanding completely, "Okay, here's what we're going to do. Marcia and Mia, go to every tent and make sure she isn't side any of them. Gatrie, go inform everyone who's already awake to help look for her. I'll wait for Janaff and ask him to help me look for her in the outskirts of the campsite."
"Lucia?" Geoffrey was walking out of the tent.
She turned around, "Geoffrey!? What are you doing, is the meeting over?"
He nodded, "what's going on?"
"Nephenee is missing..."
"Who's missing?" Ranulf asked as he also appeared outside.
"Nephenee, the green haired halberdier."
"I thought she was a sentinel."
"It doesn't matter…" Lucia said, annoyed.
"If someone's missing, we really should start looking for them." Geoffrey said in a very calm voice.
"But it does matter. If people are going to look for a missing person, they have to know who exactly it is their looking for…"
Janaff walked out and Lucia ran up to him. "Janaff, I need your help. Someone is missing and I was hoping you could use your skill to help."
"Who's missing?" Ike asked as he and Soren walked out.
"Nephenee is, boss." Mia said.
"Well we should form a search party immediately." Someone suggested.
"Yeah, before she gets attacked or something..."
"Oh my…Beorc can be so dramatic." Nailah said, walking away.
"Tell me about it." Tibarn said, sighing.
***
"Nephenee!" Ike yelled out.
Elincia sighed when there was no response of any kind.
"What do you think?" he asked her. "Should we keep going forward or do we head back to camp?"
Elincia looked around before responding. "I think we should go back."
Ike smiled at her. "As you wish."
"I'm not ordering you, General Ike."
"I really wish you would, though. Reminds me of how we used to be."
Elincia didn't know how to or if to respond.
"I miss you Elincia." Ike said after a moment of silence.
The Queen stopped and stared at him. "Excuse me…"
He faced her, "I miss you."
"This is sudden."
"Listen, Elincia. I never could stop loving you."
Elincia looked at his eyes and convinced herself that his words were truthful. And it made her happy to know that at least one person on the world thought about her that way. She blushed, "Ike…"
"I'm sorry for leaving the way I left but I realized that we couldn't be happy back then. Not when Crimea needed you so much."
"And now? Do you think we could ever be happy?" she asked him.
"I think we could be." He said as he got closer to her.
'Stop Elincia! Your actions already got more than one hurt.' She thought to herself but once again, she paid no attention to her own advice as she let Ike hug her. 'Again, if you have problems with Geoffrey then go and fix them with Geoffrey! But how can I, if he's too busy with whatever her name is.'
"Do you still love me, Elincia?"
She hugged him tightly. 'No, I do not. I am in love with Geoffrey.' She thought to herself. But she couldn't say it, instead replying "…I…I still do. I…never could get you out of my heart despite all my efforts."
Ike kissed her head. "I want you back…"
Elincia shivered knowing full well that she was doing everything wrong. She cursed herself for letting her fear of being alone get the best of her. Hadn't that been the reason everything had gone downhill? Yes, it was, it was her fault. And what was she doing now? Making it worse. "Oh Ike…that would make me so happy…" Deep down, she felt horrible for lying.
Ike kissed her lips so suddenly and so tenderly that Elincia couldn't help but let a tear drop. Guilt and shame were crawling through her body but she kissed Ike back.
***
"You're what?" Lucia asked, shaking her head.
"I'm resigning as Commander of the Royal Knights."
"You can't do that! At least not like this!"
"Lucia…listen…"
"No, you listen! You can't just throw this responsibility to someone else!"
"Sister, I have already made my choice…"
"Geoffrey, no, don't do it. At least talk with Elincia first. You owe her that much."
"I owe her?"
"Yes you do. In case you forgot, you were chosen to be the Commander of the Royal Knights because Elincia could trust you and because you are an asset to Crimea! Don't let that manipulative little Daein girl mess with…"
"Please don't speak badly of Laura."
Lucia put her hands on her hip, "Was she the one who told you to do this?"
"It doesn't matter. I've made my decision."
"Okay, let's pretend I'm going along with this stupid idea. Tell me, brother, just what exactly do you plan to do?"
Geoffrey shrugged, "I plan to live peacefully and quietly away from anything that has to do with Elincia..."
Lucia sighed heavily. "Brother, your making a huge mistake."
"I'll live with it…"
It took all of her will power to prevent herself from slapping her brother.
***
Soren sighed heavily after Ike had told him about his reconciliation with Elincia, "That woman is…"
"Don't…" Ike interrupted.
"But she…"
"Don't!" he interrupted again.
Soren sighed even heavier. 'I hate her…' he thought to himself.
***
Lucia walked into Elincia's tent, still angry with Geoffrey. "You will not believe what he wants to do."
Elincia stared at her friend, "Who and what?"
"Geoffrey is resigning as Commander and wants to be transferred to a fort near the Daein border."
Elincia went silent.
"I don't know what's gotten into him! Okay, I know who but I just don't understand…Elincia…?" Lucia had just noticed that the Queen wasn't paying attention anymore. "Are you okay?"
Elincia nodded, although Lucia could tell that she wasn't. "I'm fine."
"I'm sorry," Lucia began, "I should've been more tactful about how I gave you the news."
"Lucia?"
"Yes?"
"Ike and I confessed out love to each other…"
Lucia stared at her.
"I guess you could say we got back together…"
Lucia sighed, "I guess you know what's best for you, too."
***
"Oh, Laura, what are you doing here?" Aran asked surprised to see her without Geoffrey tailing behind.
"I wanted to talk to you, Aran."
Aran shrugged trying to act as if she was unimportant. "Sure. I have time for a friend. So what is it? Commander Geoffrey say something you didn't like?"
"This has nothing to do with him."
"Really?" Aran said faking to be shocked. "That's quite a shock. I figured that since you were only with him now he'd be you main topic. In fact, I came to the conclusion that you and he were a couple…"
Laura looked at him in shock, "You though that! But that isn't the truth!"
Aran couldn't keep his act up any longer and was genuinely surprised (and happy) to hear it. "Really?"
"Yes. He is merely a good friend I have made."
"Then what do you want to talk about."
"About what we are going to do when this ends."
Aran looked at her, confused. "I haven't really thought about it. Why?"
"It's just that I don't know what I want to do either. I figured that I'd go back to Daein and help with the reconstruction but I don't know anymore."
"Why don't you know?"
Laura shrugged. "There are other things I want."
"Like what?"
This time she smiled, "I want to be with the man I love."
Aran's face was expressionless. A tiny speck of hope resonated in his body. Maybe, just maybe, he still had a chance. "And who's this lucky man…?" he said trying not to choke on his own breath.
"It's…"
"…Commander Geoffrey…?" Aran asked suddenly.
Laura looked at him, confused, "what?"
Geoffrey had appeared as out of nowhere. "You called me?"
Aran shook his head as Laura turned around. "Geoffrey? What are you doing here?"
"I'm looking for someone and I was just passing by. Excuse the interruption." He said as he bowed his head and walked away. He smiled for Laura knowing exactly what was going on.
"That's not right…" Laura said softly to herself.
"What isn't?"
"Geoffrey isn't…" she responded as she began to go after him.
Aran surprised himself by grabbing her arm pulling her back. "You were saying something…"
"I'll tell you later, okay? I think Geoffrey needs me right now…"
Laura pulled away and ran towards Geoffrey as Aran sighed and walked away. He was feeling like a fool for having gotten his hopes high…again…
***
"Geoffrey!" Laura yelled out.
He stopped and turned around, wondering if something had gone wrong. "Laura?"
"What happened?"
"What happened with you and Aran?"
"I'll talk to him later. But you look so sad. What happened?"
Geoffrey simply sighed, "My sister didn't take the news very nicely…"
Laura lowered her head. "I'm sorry."
He hugged her, "Don't worry about me. You should've finished your conversation with Aran. What did he say?"
"I wasn't able to tell him. I was more worried about you."
"I'm flattered but I think you should go back and tell him how you feel."
"Honestly, I don't think I can. I'd prefer him as a friend for the rest of my life then to scare him off…"
"Laura, that's something you should not fear. Trust me."
Laura shook her head, "I do fear it. And you have no idea how much."
***
The camp was packed and everyone began marching towards their destination. Despite everything that had gone on, everyone was fully aware of their mission ahead and they couldn't let their personal feelings get in the middle if they wanted to be victorious. But still, bond's had been broken while others had been created and even a few had been reinforced.
Soren looked at Elincia with disgust but was forced to look away when Ike hit him, gently. Lucia had been so mad that the only person willing to get near her was Janaff. Nolan had been forced to practically push Aran along as the young halberdier had apparently lost the will to go on. Nephenee was now clinging on to Brom in hopes that no one would get near her anymore. But Geoffrey, who many considered to have been the most affected, was now walking calmly with Laura to his side.
For every action, there is a reaction. This was a lesson more than one had learned.