AN: Thank you, Antex-The Legendary Zoroark, and farsejojor for the reviews. They were greatly appreciated. And I'll be checking up a few things on my previous chapters, you know; spelling, sentence fixing, maybe add a few more things too. But other than that, there's not much to say here so I'll just let you get on with the story.
Grima circled the small arena from above. The little dragon made his escape soon after Darren left to his room to get his weapon, wanting to watch the event from the best spot to not get caught. It also caught his attention that the boy was drawing quite a bit of a crowd; which consisted of the residents of the Ferox castle and some of the Shepherds. The Shepherds were there mainly because they wanted to know how the person who was supposed to help them in the upcoming tournament did in a battle. With the exception of Chrom, who was still busy with paperwork, while most of the Feroxi were just there for a source of entertainment.
'You sure you're going to be fine Darren?' Grima asked.
'Definitely.' A voice replied. Even without being able to see him Grima could basically picture the boy saying that with his playful grin.
The dragon sighed, 'It'd probably be best if you take this a little more seriously you know? I'm not going to be able to help this time around.'
Back on the ground Darren frowned, dropping his playful attitude as he walked. 'I wouldn't expect you to. Even though we both know you have more than enough to go around, with how much you usually eat.' He was pretty sure, possible injuries aside; he'd be able to just wear Vaike out to a point of exhaustion where he just couldn't move anymore. Seemingly an infinite amount of energy is useful.
A nervous chuckle was all he received before his attention was brought back to the ground in front of him. He shivered slightly as a cold breeze blew by. It seemed to be getting colder as of late, not that it had been bothering him that much. It was just getting more, noticeable. He was approaching the arena when he caught sight of his opponent.
Vaike was standing in the center of the small circle arena with his arms crossed. His appearance just seemed to be screaming 'confidence'. When he noticed Darren's arrival he called out. "You ready to lose?"
Darren took a second to look at the blonde warrior, an eyebrow rising as he stared back up at him. After a moment he responded with a grin. "I'm pretty sure we were supposed to fight with weapons you know?"
Vaike stared at the grinning boy blankly, wordlessly reaching his arm behind him to retrieve his axe, only to grasp thin, cold air. Looking back at his hand, and noticing the definite lack of weapon, he frowned.
"Huh.
Meanwhile at the edge of the circle, the members of Shepherds there all sighed. While some guessed the possibility of this happening –Miriel had brought it up– they didn't think it would actually happen. Robin sighed simply out of exasperation, his palm resting on his face.
"Someone please get him an axe?"
The Other Way - Chapter Eight
While everyone waited for Stahl to find a suitable axe for Vaike –possibly one with a chain link attached to his person so he wouldn't be able to forget it– Robin frowned. He'd been especially interested in the upcoming fight, not for the entertainment it might provide, but to learn about his newest ally. Usually he'd be able to find out the capability of those he encountered within only a few glances, but Darren just came out blank. So it was slightly frustrating to the tactician when the match had been prolonged thanks to Vaike's little misplacement.
Speaking of Vaike, there he was. A little reddened out of embarrassment, and visibly irritated about earlier. Not that Darren was helping, as he was not-so-silently snickering in amusement, which only served to fuel Vaike's growing anger.
Finally having enough of it, the blonde warrior snapped. Pointing an accusing finger at the laughing boy, he growled out: "I don't see your weapon here either." He smirked as he finished, waiting for the boy to get embarrassed so he could fully enjoy the payback. So that's why he was confused when he saw not a flustered Darren, but a rather calm one.
"Don't worry 'bout it." He replied casually, a smile flashing across his face.
'You're ego is going to show.' Grima commented. It seemed that Darren always enjoyed showing off his new weapon whenever the possibility came. And while it was funny to see the odd looks from those who saw it, he didn't want the boy to get overconfident.
'I said don't worry about it.'
Vaike at this point tried to press on the matter, but was interrupted by the arrival of Stahl. Getting of his horse, Stahl walked towards Vaike, an iron axe in hand. The spectators that were all talking amongst themselves began to quiet down when they saw him bring the axe to its owner.
"So how are we going to do this?" Darren asked as he waited. "I mean, I don't really want to do 'first hit decides it' so what do you suggest? Ring out? Maybe first to submit?"
"The one who can who can force the other to admit defeat is the winner." Robin interjected. "So in other words, first to submit."
"Fine by me." Vaike agreed, getting a better grip on his newly acquired axe.
"Alright! Now let's get this show on the road!" Darren said enthusiastically.
"Are you sure you don't want one of us to get you your weapon?" Robin asked from the sidelines. He looked a little nervous seeing someone going barehanded against Vaike. And while it was more or less a friendly spar accidents are still possible, so he couldn't help but worry.
Darren waved off the concern. "Trust me on this."
Robin still looked unconvinced, but didn't approach it anymore. Looking down the center of the arena he announced loud enough for the two competitors to be able to hear, "On the count of three then." Receiving nods from the both of them he began.
"One."
Vaike tensed, gripping his axe tightly. Darren remained still, watching the axe-user intently.
"Two."
The audience had quieted down into a deathly silence, all eyes trained on the pair.
"Three."
Grima sneezed. It was cold up there.
With a yell Vaike charged, axe raised in an overhead swing. Darren watched the approach calmly, waiting for the right moment. And only when the opportunity revealed itself, with Vaike positioned in front of him, did he make his move. The sound of metal striking metal was heard as Darren raised his arm to the axe in what seemed like a sure way to lose his arm. Vaike's eyes widened as he saw two blades reach out from the metal case on Darren's arm and block his axe.
"What th-"
Taking advantage of Vaike's surprised state, Darren used the curved portion of his Predator blade to hook the handle of the axe and pulled to the right. Suddenly the blonde found himself way off balance, as he stumbled away from his target. While trying to regain his balance he never saw his legs get swept out from under him, naturally meaning he fell down.
As he tried to push himself up he felt the cold feeling of metal on him, figuratively freezing him in his tracks.
"Give up?"
With a grunt he grabbed his fallen axe and lashed out at the space behind him, effectively throwing Darren off. Darren watched Vaike pick himself up from the ground with a curious eye. He was relieved that the match wasn't over just yet so he could see where he stood.
"Not so easily."
Once again he lashed out with his axe, this time moving horizontally. Sparks flew as Darren once again met the attack, but was caught off guard by the amount of power in the strike. Soon Darren felt himself get pushed back as the two weapons continued to press against each other.
"What, was that all you got?" Vaike taunted, confidence building quickly as he pushed the other boy back.
Growling the black haired teen released the grip in his hand, meaning the blades withdrew into their metal case, and quickly ducked under the continued path of the axe. Then tightening his grip once again the blades came out and this time went on the offensive. Leading with an overhead feint and immediately spinning into an attack from the side when he saw the axe move upwards to block the attack. Which lead to double slashes to appear on Vaike's chest, not that they were deep enough to be life threatening, but more of an annoyance to their owner. Something Lon'qu used a lot to get Darren to remember something in training. And something Darren had learned to control his attacks. Besides, with an actual healer nearby instead of those healing salves he used it wasn't even going to be a problem afterwards.
Eventually Vaike found himself covered in multiple gashes, and somewhat exhausted. Darren wasn't let off unscathed either; baring a few marks where he couldn't block in time or was over powered when they locked weapons. And his arms hurt like hell. Vaike swings that axe of his like a monster, and he can't redirect it quick enough to get a hit in. He never really thought he would have a problem with Vaike at all in all honesty, but he still wasn't regretting his decision.
'Alright, time to finish this.' Even in his mind Darren sounded exhausted.
'I'm not giving you any energy after this Darren,' Grima informed him through their mental link. 'It would look too suspicious to those who were watching.'
Darren sighed internally at that. 'Well, as soon as I'm out of sight, do you mind…?' He left the question hanging.
'Sure thing, now hurry it up. My wings are freezing up here.'
Retracting his blades Darren seemed to blur as he ran towards the blonde. Not sure what was going to happen, Vaike prepared himself to block anything that was thrown at him. Once in range of his target, Darren lashed out with his arm, blades extending outwards with the motion. Vaike had expected the initial target to be him, what he didn't expect was the target to be his axe.
'Gotcha!'
As the blade fully extended Darren pulled back, the curves catching the blade of the axe, effectively ripping it out of its owners hand, the momentum just enough to carry him forwards. Pain flashed through Vaike as Darren jumped him, pinning him down with his left arm on his neck and right armed raised to strike.
With a thunk the iron axe was a far distance behind Darren, who was already poised to strike if Vaike tried to make a mad dash for it. Realizing just how futile the situation was, Vaike sighed in resignation.
"You win…"
The weight that was previously on him disappeared as Darren lifted himself off the defeated warrior. Picking himself from the ground slowly, Vaike groaned as his muscles protested against the action, pain flaring across various locations on his body. Looking forward he saw that Darren didn't look any better than he felt; the boy's arms looked limp and it was hard to believe that only a few moments ago they were strong enough to pull his axe out of his grasp. Other than that and a few cuts here and there, he looked relatively fine.
A hand reached out in front of him, looking up he saw Darren smiling at him.
"No hard feeling right?"
He stared for a moment, he had to admit though, it was pretty fun and he enjoyed it. With a grin he took the hand and shook it.
"Nah, no hard feelings."
Darren grinned back.
"Now then, let's get you both fixed up." said Robin as he approached the two. Lissa not too far behind him with her staff in hand. As Darren waited for his turn he began talking to Robin.
"So, how did you think of the fight?" He asked.
"It was… interesting." He responded hesitantly, not being able to gather the words necessary to respond better.
Darren arched an eyebrow. "'Interesting' how?"
Robin seemed to struggle a little more with his words, eventually coming out as: "Well, you see-" before being cut-off by Lissa, who had just finished healing Vaike.
"It was so cool how you fought! You were like 'whoosh!', 'slice!', and 'swish!'." She enthusiastically sliced her arm through the air in accordance to each sound effect, all the while holding her healing staff a short distance from Darren.
"A-ah, t-thanks Lissa." Darren stuttered out, unused to the praise after receiving curt comments from Lon'qu during his sessions. Well, that and a cute girl was the one who had given the compliment. The thought itself was enough to make Darren's face redden as he avoided looking at Lissa.
"I wonder what Chrom's doing, he missed out on the fight." Lissa wondered aloud, unaware of the effect she was having on her patient.
Robin eyed Darren with an amused smile. It was fun to watch the normally confident boy act all nervous like that.
"I'm sure he has his reasons."
"Achoo!"
Frederick popped his head in from the doorway.
"Milord, would you like some tea? It is quite cold here in Regna Ferox."
Chrom looked down at the sheets of paper on his desk in disdain. He had finished reviewing the paper his tactician had handed him and was now busy writing everything that could be changed that he could come up with. And it wasn't easy. He was a Prince godsdamnit! He hadn't learned special tactics like Robin did. And he still had to inform those who were involved!
"Yes Frederick, thank you."
With that the ever faithful –yet extremely wary– retainer of the royals departed. Leaving Chrom to continue with something he would dread to deal with even more so than Risen… paperwork.
"Stupid, paperwork…"
Soon the odd feeling of being healed by a staff was replaced with a strange tingling sensation, signalling that Lissa was done patching Darren up.
"There you go Darren, it'll be sore for a while, but that's about it." She told him.
"Thanks Lissa." He managed to reply calmly now that he managed to get himself under control.
"No biggie." She responded cheerfully. Soon she ran off to find Sumia again, leaving Robin and Darren behind.
"So… what was that about?" Robin asked curiously.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh really?"
"Positive."
"…"
"… I got nervous okay?" Darren finally relented, crossing his arms and looking away. "I was never good at dealing with girls." Robin hummed as he heard the confession, eyes closed, and arms folded and nodding sympathetically.
"Well, I guess I'll be leaving now. See you soon Robin." Darren said as he began walking away to the East Khan's castle.
"I think she's a little young for you anyways."
Whether Darren had decided to take that moment to slip in the snow, or just simply face-faulted into the ground no one will ever know.
"I-it's not like that!" He yelled, face flushing so much that it seemed the snow was melting just from the contact. Robin chuckled as he walked past the snow covered boy. Today really seemed like a good day.
"Yeah, yeah I get it. Goodbye Darren."
Watching the snow haired tactician walk away, Darren picked himself up, which caused his arms to protest against the action but paid it little attention. Brushing off the snow from his clothes, he grumbled irritably to himself. After he finished cleaning, he quickly noticed that the area was completely devoid of people. They probably left right after the fight finished.
'Hey Grima you can come down now.' He called mentally.
With a swoosh of air the little dragon descended back to earth, immediately perching himself on top of Darren's head and curling up into a ball. Grima was shivering slightly and Darren swore he saw icicles forming on his feathered wings.
"You okay?" He asked aloud, worry beginning to bubble up.
'I'll be fine.'
"Why don't you just heat yourself up?"
'It's just a minor discomfort, and I can deal with it, no need to waste precious energy on.'
Silence hung over them as Darren continued to walk to the castle, the only sound being the crunching of snow beneath his feet.
'Do you still want me to…?'
"Nah, it's only a minor discomfort, and I feel like I want to fall asleep as soon as we get back." He replied. "By the way, you're going to want to hide in my hood soon." Receiving a soft snort in reply he laughed.
From a distance a figure watched the pair quietly. Eyes tracing the body of the tiny dragon, then dropping to the person carrying it. A smile spread through the figure's face as it continued to watch.
"Oh Uncle, I'm glad to see you again."
AN: Fighting scenes will be the death of me. But I'm kinda proud of this chapter actually; got quite a bit of stuff going. It sucks that inspiration only seems to strike during the dead hours of the night. Which means this is completely written on my IPod instead of my computer, and also why it takes a while for updates. So the tournament will probably take longer to actually write than this one... oh well. As per usual leave a review if you liked what you read, even criticism goes a long way for me (just don't flame too much?".
PS: Do I have anyone reading that can draw pretty well on the computer? Or can use DeviantArt? Because while I'm confident on paper, I can't do anything on a computer. And I already drew something that could probably be used as a thumbnail for this fanfic. So if there is anyone that thinks they can please message me on FFnet? If not then, oh well.