There's a reason I hadn't worked on this story while I was uploading the other ones, because no one asked me about it! I didn't think it was very important, so I'll probably upload it in another year or so if no one really wants to read it. I feel as if out of all my stories this was the one that was not least favorite, I've been asked before to continue High School is a real Ed, Pieced together, and Trinity Team, but no one has asked about this. I'm not mad just seeing if you guys want me to continue it or focus more on my other stories.

Will power

Ed kept walking through the vast forest. This had to have been the longest walk he had ever done and his legs were already wobbling and weak from it. He was breathing out with every step and almost fell a few times. He thought if he walked all night then he would be able to catch up to the other knights by dawn, it was a failed plane, because the sun was setting and he still hadn't seen any sign of the knights. He had forgetting that most of them had gone on horseback so there was no way he would catch up to them in one day. The smart thing to do would be to set up camp and call it a night, but every time the thought came to him another would rush in and remind him that his master was going off to die, and he wouldn't let that happen. He just couldn't.

He took another step and stepped on his ankle, the dirt under him collapsed and he rolled down the hill, gaining momentum at a rapid pace. When he hit the ground only a wheeze escaped his mouth and he coughed multiple times before looking up. He had fallen into a large bush and was pretty much face first in a pile of dirt, even though it was cold dirt it was still better than nothing at all, he fought against the sleep but it came in greater waves than even he could fight off and he slowly let his eyes droop down and let his head fall into the dirt. His last thoughts before he went to sleep were of his master laying on the ground dead with his eyes wide open in shock. He already knew he wasn't going to have any good dreams that night.

Eddy opened his eye and yawned while the driver kept blabbing about his kids and his wife and how he was going to see them after he was done driving him. Eddy let most of it go in one ear and out the other, that is until he turned his head towards Eddy and smiled.

"So, you got any family of your own?" The question didn't have any hostility in it but it did hit Eddy in a place that he didn't like.

He shook his head slowly without making eye contact with the man. "Nope, my family moved off without me a long time ago." Then he looked over the car at the trees quickly pass by him. The driver must have caught on because he looked forward and kept driving.

"Well maybe one day you can come over and have some lunch with us." He didn't look away from the road which made it better, Eddy didn't want him looking at his shocked expression.

He raised an eyebrow and quickly composed himself. "Really? You want me to come, you don't even know who I am." His untrusting nature came out then, he knew he was putting barriers between him and the man and that's the way he wanted it.

The man smiled again and gave Eddy a quick once over. "It's ok you don't look like you bite….well that much." That must have really been funny to him because he cracked up then, laughing loudly enough to be heard over the buzz of the car. Eddy smiled along with him and even though he was trying to hold back he laughed too.

When the laughter died down Eddy smiled at him, one that he didn't show that many people. "Ok, ill hold you to it, I could definitely go for a bite after today."

"That's more like it, see how good it is to actually talk on these rides instead of sit there and sleep, you can sleep when you're dead am I right?"

Eddy actually found that joke funnier than he should have but he did agree with the man. He held out his hand to shake the drivers and the man let one hand off the wheel to meet his. The second their hands touched the car's wheel exploded and the ride spun forward. Eddy just had enough time to jump out of the car before it careened forward, spun a few more times and hit a very sturdy tree, blowing up instantly. Eddy got ready to sprint forward but two arrows planted themselves in-front of him and he jumped backwards into the bushes. He looked up into the trees to see two people jump from one to the other and off to the distance. He got ready to chase after them but he remembered the man in the car and quickly ran over to the rubble. He lifted up some of the scraps and when he saw a leg sticking out he made quick work of the things that covered him, he wished he hadn't. The driver had a piece of the rubble in his chest, right where his heart was with his eyes opened in shock. Eddy bit back the feelings he had; he didn't know the guy, not like he should even care.

But he did, and that's all that mattered.

Again he looked over the body; without making much noise he sluggishly got up and started digging a hole. The work was long lasting and tedious to him, but for the man that was laying close to him it was worth it. When he had finished the sun was already down and he was standing over a filled hole looking down. No one would know that there was a dead body under the dirt. There was no tomb stone for him to write anything on, the man had trusted him enough to invite someone like him to his house and yet Eddy hadn't even known the man's name. Slowly, he walked over to the arrows and inspected them carefully, they were the work of elves, he had a bad history with elves. Eddy squeezed on the arrows shaft until it broke and he swiftly got up and left. Leaving behind the father and husband of a family.

But what he took with him was a picture and hatred buried deeper inside of him.

"Wake up hero."

The young voice was able to bring him out of his deep slumber. He looked up with squinted eyes to see a smiling Lyon. "Good morning, you've been sleeping for a while now." Edd couldn't agree more with that statement, he felt like he had been sleeping for ages.

As he slowly stood up he looked around the castle and saw many more people getting up and walking around as well, it was pretty much an open courtroom. It's where they kept the survivors from the raid and where Edd had been for the past two days. After he had learned that the knight's had left, he had stayed around to get some more information on them and it just so happened that he had acquired some important details about a group of knights leaving to go fight the dragon king, the trek would last quite some time seeing as the dragon guild was so far from them in an island far to the east. This peaked his interest though, there were at least some people who knew about the dragon king and his threat to the other guilds.

He walked over to the water hole and splashed some of it on his face to wake himself up, there was no way he was going to get to the knights in time if he walked, he would need another form of transportation. He walked around the town, asking people if anyone was selling a horse or any way for him to move quicker than walking. It was different in the Masters Guild, horses weren't passed off from person to person like they had been where he lived, they were mostly for knights who were higher in class than the everyday civilian. He didn't like that idea but kept his mouth shut until he realized what he could do and grit his teeth.

"Your majesties I would greatly appreciate it if you were to give me a horse to travel with." He was on his knee with his head bowed. He didn't want to do it but he had to.

The king clapped his hands and told his servants to get what he had asked for. Lyon looked over at Edd while he studied the horse. Nodding an approval and thanking the king, even if he didn't want to.

He was beginning to trot of when he noticed someone climbing the horse. He looked behind him to see Lyon's golden blond hair bouncing up the horse. "What are you doing?" He asked angrily, he didn't have time for this.

Lyon looked up at him with a sad expression. "I'm going with you of course!"

Edd shook his head quickly. "You came with me here to find your parents, you have done that and now we must go our separate ways." Edd hadn't really thought of that last part but now that he said it his heart dropped a little. Knowing he wouldn't see Lyon probably ever again was a depressing idea but the fact that he would be alive and happy with his family was a great after thought.

"But you don't know how to survive out there alone!" A good argument, Edd couldn't last long unless he had a guide of some sort. No one here would do it for free either, the forest was a dangerous place.

Edd was quickly running out of funds and ideas for keeping Lyon back. He heard someone in-front of him and saw that it was Lyons parents.

"Hero, do you need assistance in the woods?" It was the father that was speaking, the elf he guessed by the ears.

He blushed slightly at being called hero by someone that was older than him and shook his head stubbornly. "Your son has been a great help, I have learned much about surviving and don't require assistance."

"You're lying!" Lyon shouted, his cries echoing. "Mama, Papa! We said we would repay him for his kindness, let's lead him to where his friends are."

The man scratched his blond beard, it was then that Edd noticed more features about Lyons parents. The father was a tall man with a long beard and precise looking eyes, his hair was short and almost white it was so bright. While Lyons mother was almost a spitting image of the boy, with long blond hair, a soft caring face and brilliant blue eyes.

"Eliot, Lyon's right, we have to help him." Her eyes were sad, Edd didn't understand why.

The father, Eliot, continued to think. It was after some time that he looked at Edd and spoke. "I am sorry hero, we don't have much trust for humans, especially on long adventures such as this." Edd understood, even though the Elves where close to the Tide guild it didn't mean they completely trusted other people.

"I understand that, and it's perfectly fine." Edd nodded, but Eliot put his hand up.

"But you saved my son's life, and for that we all owe you our lives." He bowed, so did the woman and Edd put his hands up defensively.

"I…I didn't do much I promise you, your son took care of both of us with his knowledge of survival." They hadn't stopped bowing and he realized what he had gotten into, once an elf offered someone his or her life, it was a done deal. After some time he relented and smiled. "Thank you very much Eliot." After that they both stood up.

Edd turned back towards the king and asked for another horse, in which he was given. Eliot and his wife who Edd later learned was named Carol, rode off towards the house that had been offered to the family while they had been investigated. It was perfect, there were many supplies there that they had escaped with, food, water canteens, and weapons. Edd watched in amazement as Eliot held a long white bow and put it on with his quiver, Lyon had a matching set, even if it was a lot smaller. Carol put on gloves and packed potions and elixirs for them.

Lyon tapped Edd's shoulder when he saw how worried he was. "It's ok, my mom is an alchemist master, she can make potions out of anything too."

Edd had heard a little about alchemists. They themselves carried an above average amount of magic, they were usually able to turn objects into something else as long as the object was of equal value. They impressed Edd. He would have to ask Carol about her magic later on.

Edd's adventure had finally begun, he trotted off with Lyon and his family into the forest. It was quiet at first, with only Eliot and Lyon talking about how they had both been in this forest recently.

"When we had been taken away I planned on walking through the forest to get back to my son but those blasted knights didn't trust me, they thought I was a spy sent from Elton, that attack from before didn't help with their assumption either."

"Ya Edd and I were here too! It wasn't as bad as they say though, not a lot of monsters." Lyon added, with a matter of fact tone like he knew a lot.

Eliot looked back at his son with a confused glance. "The forest you two went through was the forest of May, it's pretty peaceful and it's on the north side of the Masters guild, the forest we are going through now is on the south side, the Yard forest, we're going towards the mountains there will be many monsters for us to fight here. That made Edd shiver a little.

He had seen the forest of Yard in a map, it was pretty big. It could lead to either Tide, or towards the sea. Edd shook his head to shake the idea of going through this forest for days on end. He could feel Lyon shaking behind him, holding his waist tighter.

"Hero, are you scared?" The question was loud enough for his parents to hear too.

Edd rubbed Lyons hair again and smiled. "I already told you about fear, it's ok, just don't let it control you."

He saw Eliot and Carol smiling and he couldn't help to smile as well. Until of course something tried to ruin the moment, there was a large crash, trees started to fall and the horses started to become frantic.

A giant pushed its way through the greenery and looked at them with one big bulging eye. "Finally! Humans for me to eat!" He reached out towards Edd and Lyon and he hit the reins on the horse for it to gallop off, Eliot did the same and they quickly started off, a giant close behind them.

Ed was shaking some dirt off of himself and continued to walk, he had barely gotten any sleep that night and had trudged through the dense mud he now found himself in. His muscles had become extremely tired a while ago and he couldn't help but be angry at the fact that he was unlucky enough to find himself in the swamp part of the Yard forest. If only he had remembered the map better. Slowly he moved through the area, breathing out with every step. He heard beards scurry off quickly in a far area behind him and looked back to see them moving off, he could have sword he saw a tree fall and stepped faster.

His foot got caught in something, he tried to lift it but it wouldn't budge. He reached down and pulled at the vine that was caught on his leg and grit his teeth when it didn't come off. It was then that he noticed it was trying to snack around his leg and he drew his two handed sword the second another one moved next to him, the vine pulled and he fell on his back, dragging through the mud. Whatever it was that had him was strong, it pulled him quickly through the dirt and he spit and wiped his eyes trying to see what it was. When he could finally see again he was upside down, hanging by his ankle and there was a large plant like monster in-front of him. Roaring and hissing at him, the spit that escaped its lips sizzled and dissolved some of the other plants that were around it and he winced when flecks of it hit his skin.

He slashed the vine holding him and fell on his back with a loud thud, the monster hissed again and sent more of the vines towards him. He rolled back on his feet and ducked under the ones that went for his body, jumping from side to side and slashing the vines away from him.

One of them wrapped around his arm and pulled him towards its gaping mouth. His feet weren't catching on the mud and he pulled back to no avail. This thing was stronger than him and he wasn't used to that, he gripped the vine and hacked at it, this one must have been its main one because it wasn't breaking like the other ones had. It pulled again, harder than before and he was sent flying towards it. Its teeth were gnashing together and he barely missed its mouth by slashing at what he assumed was where its lips should have been, it bled out green puss and screeched.

"Let'o!" He yelled, slashing again at the thick vine that was holding him. It lifted him in the air and he looked down to see it open its mouth. "W-wait!" He shouted again and the vine around his arm loosened until he couldn't hold it anymore and fell, this wasn't like one of his training sessions when his master could save him, he was alone.

He was going to die.

He had barely begun his journey and he was already falling to his doom. Maybe this whole time he just hadn't been good enough, if he couldn't beat this monster then there was no way he could save his master and take out the dragon king. He didn't deserve to keep going if he was going to die like this.

"NO!" Ed threw his two handed sword at the beast, striking it where its eye's should have been and it moved backwards, screaming and shaking. He fell hard on the earth again, the blow knocked the air out of him and he un-sheathed his one handed sword. Running towards where it was planted in the ground and slashing with all his force, the blade was glowing and he knew he was using some of his inner strength for it to do that.

He cut the stem off in one go and lifted his shield in the air when the monster fell on his. It gurgled one last menacing roar and died. Ed tried to move but he couldn't, his body was too exhausted. After walking as long and as far as he did he couldn't muster up any more energy and just lied there for a while before he sat up. His two handed sword was still stuck in the beast but he had noticed walking with it was almost impossible if he wanted to keep going. So he sheathed his sword and put his shield back on his back. Bowing at the sword that had helped him so much in the past and walked away.

He wondered if that was a sign on growing up him leaving his sword like that. It wasn't like it was his first ever sword, but it held some significance of his teachings with his master. The two handed sword had been the one he had learned first before moving to a shield. He already knew that the shield and sword would do him better while he traveled than a two handed one.

"Hey you, halt!" He heard someone call behind him and turned. There were three men, each on horseback, looking down at him in some amazement. "Was that you who killed that monster?" It was the one in the middle who was talking.

"Yes, that was me." Ed answered, he wondered who the people were, the way they were dressed they weren't knights or rouges. If anything they were probably mages.

They looked scared of him for a second and then talked with each other for a while. "We were actually traveling to Tide to talk to the leader of that guild, we were attacked though by one of them and lost a member." They looked sadly at each other. "We were wondering if you could travel with us, we will give you one of our horses as payment."

Ed couldn't believe his luck, he nodded quickly and clapped his hands in excitement. "Yesir! I'll help you guys get through the forest!" With a horse he'd be able to get to Tide a lot faster, also maybe catch up to his master.

They all sighed and smiled along with him. "Thank you noble knight, here you can have our fastest horse, his horseshoes are enchanted, he gallops as if running on air." The one in the middle jumped off of his horse and onto one of the other mages. "We had two with us but that scallion from before took it."

Ed jumped on the horse and rubbed its neck and head, it seemed to like his touch and it shook its head. Who would steal a horse like this from such nice people?

Eddy galloped forward on his stolen horse, smiling to himself while he did.

He had been so lucky to find those mages while he was walking and was able to knock out one of them, the guy was still on the horse, it wasn't like he was just going to leave him there he just needed this horse.

It was so fast too! He didn't know why but it was a smooth and quick ride for him, if he continued this pace he would get to Tide in a couple days compared to a week if he was on a normal horse. He continued to move until the night time, when his horse was too tired to keep going and he stopped for the night in a clearing. He started a fire and tied the man up from before. He didn't know if that would help seeing as he didn't know what kind of magic the mage had but if he was able to escape Eddy would just have to kill him.

He had done a lot less of that lately. He was actually happy about that but there was another side of him that wanted the bloodshed. He shook his head and scanned around the forest, he hadn't forgotten about the people that attacked him before. The Elton guild had his name on their list too not just Kevin but there was no way he could just sneak in there with all their magical prowess over the city. Unlike the Masters guild the Elton one had seven high mages that ran over the city, he probably could only take on one of two of them but seven was way out of his league.

"H-huh, who are you?!" The mage panicked and wiggled around. "W-what's going on?!"

Eddy looked at him with a calm expression. "Shut up, you're fine." He realized how stupid he was to say something like that to a guy that was tied up.

"Y-you're the guy that attacked us!" He shook his head quickly. "Why would you do that?! We're just trying to find the assassin that attacked our magician."

So they were after him. "I just needed your horse, and if you don't stop yelling I might just have to leave'ya here." Eddy growled, if he kept yelling they'd attract attention. For right now that was a bad thing seeing as elves were roaming about these forests now. He looked from side to side and held onto a knife that was tucked into his belt. He blinked a couple times, adjusting to the darkness before he smiled. He liked adjusting to the darkness, becoming it.

"Why did you kidnap me then?" He asked, Eddy could tell he was trying to unfasten the ropes on his hands but without a staff that was basically useless. Eddy had completely forgotten that staffs were necessary for magical use.

"Who are you looking for?" Eddy leaned forward, his eyes were more precise than before. Almost aiming.

"We are after Cirus, the assassin of the mist." He basically whispered as if saying the name was scary enough. "After we question him we are going after an assassin named Eddy, to question him on the attack on Kevin the Knight General." He didn't sound as scared as Eddy would have wished. "Kevin just wants him to be brought back, not executed."

That surprised Eddy in some ways. Kevin was supposed to be malicious and vengeful, Eddy had half expected him to just put a bounty on his head but instead he wanted him to himself. Without bomb drops or range weapons Eddy didn't know if he could take Kevin on in a one on one fight with just swords. It would be interesting. It was the fascination that stopped him from killing the man and he was glad about that.

But if Cirus was back in Tide it was a problem.

"Don't look for Cirus…" It wasn't a recommendation it was a warning. "He will kill all of you without even lifting a finger…." Eddy was scared of the man, he was too scared of what he could do.

"Do you know where we might find him?" The idiot wasn't listening to him. Instead he wanted to keep looking for the killer.

Eddy shook his head, reaching back for the knife. "He's dead, as far as any assassin is concerned he's dead." There was a poster on the wall of Cirus, it had stayed up there for as long as Eddy had been an assassin, ten years it had been up there and he should know. It was Cirus that put it up there when he was teaching Eddy.

He wanted a challenge.

"Y-you're an assassin?" The man leaned into the tree like it could protect him.

The side that wanted the man's blood was starting to take control. He slowly took the knife out of his belt, then heard a rustle behind him and threw it at the noise. Someone jumped down from the bush and shot three arrows at him, he ducked under them and heard a squeak of fear behind him. It must have been the man.

Another couple of arrows were shot to his left and he rolled out of the way of them. He hooked three knives to his fingers and drew his sword out. He threw one at the one to his left and charged at the one in front of him. They clashed sword to sword and he kicked him backwards, ducking under arrows that were shot behind him. This was bad, dealing with elves required him to use his Wisp, but if he used it then Cirus would know he did. Another arrow flew past him and he barely had enough time to dodge it.

More knives were thrown but the girl expertly dodged them and jumped next to her partner. Eddy drew his other sword and clenched his teeth, he couldn't let Cirus know he was still in Tide or he'd hunt him down. Eddy only had about five more after his fight with Kevin. The two of them drew their arrows and Eddy got ready to dodge.

"Wait a second you idiots!" He heard the familiar voice and groaned.

A woman dropped from the tree to his right and shook some of the leaves out of her black hair, the hair of a dark elf.

Eddy sheepishly smiled. "Hey Kenzie, long time no see."

If you have read my other story you know who Kenzie is! I actually don't like the Ed's with the Kanker's so I don't think I'll do that with this story I don't know yet though.

So it's up to you, I won't ask for a review limit on this to continue it because honestly I wasn't going to even start a chapter until February. If you want me to continue it just put it in a review, if you want me to just end it quickly and work on my other stories review it for me and tell me that!

I hope you enjoy it