I do not own any of these characters (besides Aaron), they belong to Nintendo.

Ike sat with his head in his hands. Rhys had fixed him up quickly, casting him a sad glance from time to time as he did. Now Ike was alone in his cabin, Greil had sent him and everyone else to bed and told them they would talk about what had happened that night in the morning. Rhys had done his best but told Ike the whip would leave faint scars and his back might still be a little sore tomorrow. What had happened that night was his fault; he started a war. If he had just left Link be then none of this would have happened. He didn't have to get into Link's face, he just had to block his way to Sheik and all would have been fine. He had gotten into Link's face though and nothing was 'fine'. Though Greil had sent him to get some rest, there was no rest for a guilty conscious. He wondered how Sheik was, her family arriving out of the blue and demanding she return home. He knew she must have suffered some form of abuse at home, maybe verbal or physical or both. He wasn't sure and didn't want to assume someone's past. One thing was evident: she feared her family more than Death himself.

(Sheik)

Sheik sat with her knees against her chest. There was a light breeze that brushed past her as she looked at the beautiful sky. She was on top of her cabin, a blanket wrapped around her against the cold. As long as she looked at the sky she failed to see any beauty, after the night's events it was hard to see anything as beautiful. The sky was black with white specks as far as she was concerned. What had she done? Just her presence had brought another war onto these people who had given her room, pay, and food. As if the first war hadn't been hard enough on them. Her father had accomplished all he had wanted with his visit here. Harm the innocent. Check. Anger Greil. Check. Send fear, hatred and heartbreak to reopen her old wounds. Check. Wage war on those foolish enough to protect someone like her. Check.

This was going to be more than just a war for her. It was going to be a reminder she couldn't stay in one place or stay with one person for too long before they were injured or killed. She felt her long black knife heavy against her leg. She instinctively reached for it but stopped. What would Shinon say? Another part of her threw the thought against the wall of her mind and hushed it. She slid to the edge of the roof, gingerly jumped down and walked into the forest. She pushed a sleeve up, revealing many short horizontal scars and one long diagonal scar that ran to her elbow. She then removed her knife from its sheath.

(Ike)

Ike had lost track of time hours ago. It was only when the early light of dawn peeked through his window did he have a vague understanding of the time. Dawn was good enough for him. He stood up and dressed, feeling his back ache with every movement. He ignored it for the most part, buckled Ragnell around his waist and left. Besides the hunting party, nobody seemed to be awake yet. This didn't really faze him as he walked through camp; his pace was causal as he headed to his tree stump. The day was going to be beautiful, there wasn't a cloud in sight. It seemed so wrong compared to what was going on. The thought of war again had plagued his mind with images of the dead, and images of who might die this time. In the dark of his cabin he had seen the faces of the ones he cared about, eyes glazed and faces pale. It was his fault.

As he reached his stump he heard someone else's footsteps. He stopped and sidestepped behind a tree. He felt his heart pick up speed, no one was supposed be out yet, the hunting party had yet to leave. He waited but realized they had heard him too. He tensed, knowing his back would hinder him in a fight but still approaching. He kept a hand on Ragnell and looked around, even checking the trees. He had hardly looked up when he saw Sheik. She stared down at him with an unreadable expression. He sighed and looked away, ashamed. Her silence could have meant a hundred different things but her eyes seemed cold and distant. Unsure how to approach her he just sighed and leaned against a tree.

"I'm sorry Sheik. I just… The last thing I wanted to do was start a war between your family and mine," he started. He glanced up at her and saw her face had completely changed. Now she was the one that looked guilty.

(Sheik)

He was the one apologizing. For what? He was apologizing for being whipped, for protecting her, for her former hatred for him. It wasn't right and she wasn't going to let it happen.

"Ike," she said, trying to get his attention.

He just kept rambling.

"Ike! Shut up!" She shouted.

He stopped. She climbed down the tree and stood a few feet away from him.

"Thank you. Listen, there's nothing you should be upset or guilty about. It was me. I brought them here. If I wasn't here Link wouldn't have perused you, my father wouldn't have waged war on you and I'm sorry. I really am. I never meant for this to happen but I should have known better than to believe nothing like this would have happened if I stayed," she said.

"No Sheik. If I hadn't provoked Link he wouldn't have been so angry but I insulted and even punched him. Link, a prince."

"Ike, it doesn't matter what you said or if you punched him. You defending and protecting me was enough to set him off. Just being here I'm endangering you and everyone in this camp. As if the first war wasn't hard enough on your camp. Ike, Greil said he wouldn't allow me to just be taken. What if I just gave myself up?"

"Sheik, you know he wouldn't allow that, Shinon wouldn't allow it and even I wouldn't. Even if you managed to just slink away Shinon would hunt you down. If he wouldn't, I would. I wouldn't let you, or anybody else, feel fear from someone they should love and be loved by."

"Why… Never mind. Even if I did give in my father wouldn't be satisfied until he—"

"Burned the whole camp down? I know. He told me."

"The whole camp and everyone with it. Don't get me wrong, he used to be… normal. Link and I used to get into trouble like normal siblings. Then life happened and my endless streak of bad luck. Shinon and few others seemed to manage to escape it though. Unfortunately you and your camp aren't that lucky. I'm really sorry Ike. For everything that happened last night and for the things that happened after I left all those years ago."

Ike looked at her for a moment then sighed.

"You read the letters, didn't you?"

"Yes, and the list," she said quietly.

"I never would have thought they could be ripped away from me so easily. I suppose you felt like that when your family changed. I'm sorry about that. It must be worse, they're there but they aren't really there anymore."

"Yeah. Ike, what happened? Your friends, they were all excellent fighters," she said wanting to quickly change the subject.

"I'll tell you that story when you tell me your story. They were more than friends, they were family. This whole camp was, it still is. You're a part of it now Sheik. C'mon, let's go before we scare off the game for the hunters."

They walked in silence. There was nothing left to be said. Sheik looked at the ground as they walked. She thought about the words that had passed between them. It was a lot for her. She had let more of her past show than she had intended, she never let anyone know anything about her typically but Ike deserved to know a little bit. He was one of the few who chose to stand up for her even when she rejected him. What had he meant that she was part of the family? She was far from it. She was just another hired fighter a few years ago. She hasn't been here long enough to become part of anything except a war. She refrained from letting out a sigh and gently touched her throbbing arm. It wasn't fair what she had done to them. She was about to go around in another circle of guilt when a light tap on her upper arm brought her out. She looked up and saw Greil looking at them. Or, more specifically, her.

"Wh-what?" She stuttered like a fool.

"I'm making my rounds, waking everyone who was involved. We're meeting in my cabin. I'll have Oscar bring us some food," Greil repeated.

Sheik just nodded. There wasn't much else she could do. She needed to talk Greil into letting her go and save himself the trouble and the deaths. This was foolish. Couldn't Greil think about how the last war had ended? His son was changed forever, several of his best men and women dead, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, dead or their families still mourning them. She couldn't help but feel a small twinge of anger towards Greil. She trudged along next to Ike as they walked to Greil's cabin. She gave him a nod of thanks as he opened the door for her. Then they waited for the others.

(Ike)

Ike sat down in one of the chairs provided and closed his eyes, his head rolling back. He was tired but not enough to fall asleep. Though Sheik had told him it was not his fault he still felt like he had contributed to the declaration of war. It wasn't just that he thought it, he believed it. He heard the door open as Shinon and Gatrie entered, their feet dragging from morning drowsiness. Shinon mumbled a good morning to Sheik and plopped down into a chair. Gatrie said nothing, but Ike could guess he sat down and was looking longingly over at Greil's bed. After a few minutes of silence Sheik sat down too. Then they waited for Titania and Greil.

Ike had almost fallen asleep by the time they showed up. Ike didn't blame him. Titania hated mornings, it was best to leave her be until late morning or early afternoon but this was a serious matter. She came in and roughly dropped herself into a chair. Greil sat in front of them and held up a paper. The handwriting was elegant. It was a deceleration of war. Malum had upheld his promise.

"I'm sorry," Ike and Sheik said in unison. Everyone looked at them, they looked at each other.

"We already went over this," Sheik started.

"I know. You can't say I didn't help contribute to it though."

"Ike, you had nothing to do with-"

"Neither did you! Sheik, when are you going to understand it's them, not you?"

"Enough," Greil said in his deep booming voice.

Ike relaxed and turned his gaze to Greil, waiting for orders.

"There isn't much we can do besides sharpen our weapons, gather the troops, prepare some defenses and wait," he said.

Ike nodded. Everyone remembered the drill. At the news of another war, many would desert; they came for money not a war. To rally troops again would be much harder, no one was going to take their land. Ike knew well that even some people living in Tellius would turn against them. Malum would be forced to ravage the farms and villages for food. Knowing a bit about how Malum operated he guessed he would tell the villagers it was the mercenaries fault they had to do this. Now that Ike thought about it, he realized just how difficult Malum was going to make things.

"Of course will seek an alliance with the Laguz again, I'll send Soren to speak with Skrimir. As for the others, we can wait until we're deeper in the war. Going to them now would show weakness, they aren't particularly found of weakness. Ike, get together a group to set up defenses. Shinon, Gatrie, and Sheik you'll be part of that group. Titania, gather another group to sharpen weapons then gather whatever supplies we have, if we're low then send someone to purchase some more. I'm going to join Soren to see Skrimir. Ike, Titania, you two are in charge," he ordered.

They nodded and stood. As they walked out Titania looked at Ike, her green eyes piercing into him.

"I want Mia, Jill, and Oscar."

"That's doable. I want Brom and Nephenee," Ike responded.

Titania nodded, "Who gets Kieran?"

"I guess I'll take him, he won't do well if you have Oscar."

Then their conversation was over. They separated and Ike heard Gatrie groan behind him.

"Great, we're stuck with Kieran and Boyd," he whined.

"Gatrie, shut up. That's the least of our troubles if you haven't noticed," Shinon snapped at him.

Ike smirked. At times he wasn't particularly fond of Shinon but he had his moments and that was one of them. Ike found Nephenee and Brom, both staggering out of their cabins with eyes glazed with sleep. Ike waved for them to follow and found Kieran in the same state. As for Boyd, Ike stormed into his cabin and gave him a rather rude awakening. When Boyd was finally up and ready they moved on to find a few more sturdy soldiers who didn't argue with orders. Shinon was grudging but would obey so long as Greil ordered him to listen to Ike. It would be nothing short of a miracle if Shinon were to ever respect Ike. Letting out a sigh Ike led them to the mess hall which was stock piled with people at this time. Ike stood on top of one of the tables and made an announcement.

"Mercenaries, I'm well aware of your confusion. The blunt end is we're going into another war. Not quite as you would expect, we have received a declaration of war from King Malum of Hyrule. This declaration was received early this morning. Never has this happened to us before but we will not stand for it. If the King believes he can quickly eliminate us like we are nothing more than rats, he has much to learn from us. Let's start with defenses, he won't expect us to be quite so dignified with our strategy of both offense and defense," Ike told them in a loud and clear voice.

Silence consumed the consuming and swallowed them whole. No one spoke as Ike's words sunk in. He looked around and found Titania at the door, she nodded and came forward. She stood on the table with Ike and spoke.

"This is just another road block. Commander Greil has left with Soren to request aid from King Skrimir. As for us, we must take action and protect what we have left. King Malum will not be satisfied until every mercenary has been killed, he has no mercy for even the deserters. Now divide yourselves. The strong and able on the right, the others on the left, those on the right will go with Ike to build defenses. The left will come with me to take stock and sharpen weapons," she said.

They watched as a majority went to the right and the others to the left. Ike looked through his men and chose a few dozen to send to Titania. When he was satisfied he sent Kieran and Sheik to gather a couple of horses to pull wood. He took the rest to get normal wood chopping axes.

(Sheik)

Sheik walked next to Kieran, lost in her thoughts and hardly noticing his existence. They only walked in silence for a few moments before Kieran looked her over and smirked. Sheik was pulled out of her thoughts as she felt his gaze run over her body, she casted him a weary glance and saw a stupid grin on his face. He liked what he saw. She squirmed under his gaze and tried to ignore him, to no avail.

"Sheik is the name, right?" He asked.

She didn't respond. He wasn't worth her time.

"Aw, c'mon. Don't give me the silent treatment. We're going to have to work together, might as well get to know each other."

Sheik turned his poor attempts to flirt into white noise as she turned the corner to the stables. As she entered a wave of nausea washed over her when she saw Ike's blood still stained on the straw littered floor. She took in a breath of air and kept walking, looking at the horses. She picked Epona as she was originally a farm horse and was built for this kind of task. She looked over at Ike's horse and contemplated taking him. Though he was a war horse he was a Clydesdale, they were bred for this type of work. She sighed and put lead rope around him. She looked over at Kieran who was also picking horses. He seemed to know horses well, he chose only the ones that were built for work, the others he left alone. Once they had picked a dozen horses, six per person, they agreed it was enough and Kieran led them to an old shed, roughly the size of a normal barn. It held a couple of chariots, a few wagons, and one carriage. He handed the ropes to Sheik and pulled six wagons out.

Once they had attached two horses per wagon and filled each with wood, they headed off to find the rest of the group. Leading the horses was no problem, she and Kieran both had a handful of carrots and just walked along, Kieran leading the way to the others. He was 'familiar with their defense lines as he had patrolled them frequently', he boasted to her. She just nodded and walked behind him. Once they reached the others they saw the group was in full action. They had begun to cut down a few of the many trees that inhabited the forest and began to chop them down into smaller pieces, cutting off the branches as well. Ike and some others saw them approach, took pieces of wood out and removed their knives then began to sharpen one end. The pieces of wood were not short and thick like most fire wood. This wood would have been used to light a large fire, like the one they had at the center of camp. Sheik picked up a lighter weight piece and began to follow their example.

(Ike)

Ike looked up at the sun and let out a sigh. It was roughly around two or three in the afternoon by now. It was warm but not hot, thankfully. Ike was more than happy to have worked like this in the early spring rather than the summer.

Ike felt a gaze burn into his back, it was no doubt Shinon. Ike grunted and continued his work, trying not to look like the slacker Shinon thought he was. He wished to understand why Shinon hated him so but it was something Ike would never know in this life or any other. He shook his head and brushed the matter aside, there was no use dwelling on something that would never change.

He knew they had to eat and refresh themselves soon, they couldn't go on all day like this, not unless they absolutely had too. Ike stopped again and whistled, workers around him stopped, the others did just as they saw. Ike told them to go find something to eat, drink and rest for a half hour. They obeyed happily. Ike himself felt a sense of relief as he released his knife. His hands began to fold again, too stressed to relax yet. As Ike walked he found himself in stride with Kieran, who was looking at Sheik as she walked next to Shinon ahead of them. Ike grunted and pulled his attention away.

"Kieran," Ike said formally.

"Hey Ike. You see that ahead if us? Nice view isn't it?"

That? Ike clenched and unclenched his fists a few times, trying to calm himself.

"Kieran, I swear, if you're talking about the woman in front of us I'm not afraid to break the skin of my knuckles on your chin," Ike warned.

Kieran looked at Ike curiously only to be answered with a set jaw and steely seriousness in Ike's eyes. Kieran knew when he was outmatched, this was one if those times. Kieran just nodded and looked to the side. Ike broke away from him and went to the horses where he saw Sheik stroking her horse gently on the cheek.

"Want to help me unhook them? We aren't the only ones who deserve a break," Ike asked.

Sheik must have been lost in her thoughts as she jumped at the sound of his voice.

(Sheik)

Sheik blinked a few times at Ike who had an amused smile plastered on his face. She rolled her eyes and nodded. He was right, the horses had been pulling chopped trees from one place to the next and transporting more wood from camp to the borders. As she removed the harness from Epona and the others she couldn't help but notice she actually felt an awkward silence. Typically she wasn't concerned about what was going on or who she was with or if they talked but now she felt like they were supposed to. That was when she knew she had gone too far, she had opened up too much and she was becoming closer to someone than she had since she met... Well, the thieves. The oddest thing was she didn't feel angry with herself or even a misdirected anger towards Ike.

It was strange and it alarmed her. They each grabbed six horses and led them back to camp, the silence was almost painful. The twigs and brush failed to break the silence as they were still damp from the approaching spring. She felt like her lungs might explode if she didn't speak but as she opened her mouth Ike stopped. She looked at him curiously but he didn't look at her, he looked around himself, like he heard something, every muscle in his body tensed. Sheik looked around too but she didn't hear or see anything, the horses seemed calm as well.

"You okay, Ike?" She asked.

He turned his attention to her and nodded but never relaxing. After that she knew they couldn't carry a conversation even if they tried. They came next to the barn and released the horses in a fenced area with water and enough grass to feed them. As they walked back to the mess hall she noticed a bag of apples next to a stall. She approached it, selected a ripe apple, and nodded at Ike as she headed back to the forest. She looked back at him and saw he was heading to a different section of the forest.

Where are you going? She thought to herself. She didn't know much about Ike but she knew he usually had a large appetite. After weighing her options for a moment she made the conscious decision to follow him. There had to be some reason he was skipping out, it could have been what had happened in the forest. She took a bite of her apple, turned on her heel and silently followed Ike.

(Ike)

Ike kept a hand on his sword and looked around, waiting. He had heard him, one who had called him friend but had left when he needed him most. One who had been a brother more than a friend, he had returned. While Ike had been walking with Sheik he heard him silently call out, almost mocking him. No, he wasn't going crazy, Rhys had already checked. As he remembered the one who called him brother he felt his anger grow, his grip on Ragnell tighten, and his senses dull.

There was a sound of rushing footsteps before a heavy weight crash into him. Ike fell to the ground and grappled with his foe, realizing his mistake too late. His sword too large to be useful he resorted to brute force. His foe having got the best of him, Ike brought his knee up making contact with the foe's groin, who only grunted but faltered for a mere second. In the mere second Ike managed to throw in a punch to the foe's kidney. Catching him easily, he pushed his attacker off and rolled away. Ike stood and quickly drew his sword, looking down at his attacker. It was him.

"You've gotten better but you wouldn't last in a duel against me, Ike," the man said with a chuckle. As he stood he gave him a sly smile, his sharp green eyes piercing through Ike. Ike glared at him and tensed, ready for an attack. The man shared Ike's blue hair only it was darker and not quite as shaggy. He easily stood over Ike by a good four or five inches, battling with even Greil's height.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Ike spat. "You haven't been around in years."

"Sure, but you're still just as easy to sneak up on. You were being followed by more than just me," he said. The man looked up at the tree to Ike's right and smiled.

"C'mon, don't be shy. I have yet to properly introduce myself," the man said.

Ike looked up and saw Sheik sitting in a branch, her eyes wide. She must not have been expecting anyone to notice her. She climbed down cautiously as both men watched her. Again, Ike realized his mistake too late as the man crashed into Ike again. Only this time, before the fight could even begin, the man was brought to an abrupt stop. Ike looked up and saw Sheik bent over the man with a long curved knife to his throat.

"Get up," she ordered.

The man turned his head to the side and shot her a sly smile. He stood and Sheik pulled the knife away but it remained in her hand. Ike stood and shot her a skeptical look before retrieving Ragnell and standing next to Sheik.

"Who are you?" Sheik questioned, only it sounded more like a statement.

"Ah, right, introduction. My name is Zelgius," he answered nonchalantly.