Its was 10:00 in Ferox and Will was sitting in on the gate house when he saw a young woman in blue clothing with a mask and a tiara. She looked like she was examining the walls, and… the defences. He dropped down in front of the woman, she seemed startled and drew her sword. "What business do you have in Ferox miss?" Will asked.
"H-How?" Will stared at her blankly with an "Are you serious?" expression. "I-I assure you-" her voice plunged a few octaves.
"Not buying it." She sighed and took off her mask with a little blush.
"Tell no one of my gender" Will raised an eyebrow *Wow, you're cute* he though and said aloud.
"W-What did you say?" The girl asked with now a obvious blush
"Did I stutter?" Will asked with a grin *Aww, she's so adorable when she blushes* Will though and did not say aloud this time.
After some head scratching, a few awkward silences, some warm tea brewing, some comments from Will that resulted is some slaps, several conversations, and evasions from guards looking down, they were sitting on mats in a forest clearing and sipping cups of tea.
After a while, Will said.
"Back to the question, what are you doing here is Ferox?"
She took a sip. "I want to fight the strong, and I came here."
"Well I held my own against the Champion of the West Khan, would you like to try me? But after the tea, You definitely have taste in tea." Will said with a sip.
"I shall, and thank you, I got the tea from Chon'sin, oh by the way I never asked your name." She extended a hand, "My name is Lucina, yours?" Will took it.
"Will" he said as they shook hands. "So, you're looking for Prince Chrom." Will said,
"Yes"
"Are you comfortable with telling me why?"
"No, its personal" Lucina responded.
"Ahh I see"
"What do you mean?"
"Well I just think now's the time he gotten married"
"Wh-WHAT?!" Lucina asked with her red face.
"Don't worry, I think he's still available"
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN!"
"...Oh..." Will said meekly.
"Apologies, I should not have shouted..." Lucina apologized,
"And I should have assumed without proof..."
"Will you forgive me?"
"As long as you forgive me"
When they were ready start, Lucina was standing on the West side of the clearing of the woods wile Will was standing on the East. "Ready when you are" Will said in a defensive stance. At that Lucina drew her sword and held it in front of her with both hands, Will put his shield between him and Lucina with his sword at the ready. Lucina rushed forward and right when she was in striking distance she leapt several feet in the air and swung her sword downward, causing her to sumer-salt in midair towards him at a high speed. Will, using his sword and shield blocked the attack. Swords clashing Will discovered that she favoured heavy strokes and momentum to attack, this was useful information to him. Will thought of a easy solution to exploit her fighting style. When Lucina was executing a particularly powerful stroke instead of blocking it, he stepped aside and when the sword dug into the snow and ground, Will aimed his sword at Lucina's exposed chest.
"Never execute an attack that will exposed you, an attack must all ways have a block, and a block must all ways have a counter attack." Will said, Lucina had a look of dismay in her face,
"What is it?" Will asked
"Since I lost to you, I-"
"You're in" Will said smiling.
"What about my gender?" Lucina asked
"Don't worry. Except... what shall I call you? Lucina is a woman's name" Lucina though for a bit and said,
"You may call me Marth"
It was 11:00, one hour till the tournament. Will and Marth were standing in front of Lon'qu and the other champions.
"Can this guy get in?" Will asked "He's excellent with a blade and held his own against me."
"But we all ready have enough fighters" Lon'qu replied then, Will leaned in close and whispered in his ear.
"Listen, the guys we have suck, we need all the good fighters we can get. So why don't we just pick one of the random guys we have already and have them spar?" Lon'qu thought about it for a minute and simply said
"Alright, lets try it your way." The battle was 10 seconds long. Will grinned put his arm around Marth and said "What did I tell ya? This guy's good." Lon'qu thought for a moment and said,
"All right, he's in. One question, are you two friends?" Will looked at Marth, and they both said.
"Yes"
"All right then, lets go. We have a tournament to win."
"The Tournament will commence when I say begin!" Will was a few meters to the left of Marth and several more from Lon'qu, his adrenaline was up and he was ready for some action. Lon'qu and Marth were calmly waiting when Anna's voice boomed. "5, 4, 3, 2, 1... BEGIN!" Both sides were stock still, because both sides were waiting for orders from there respective champion/tactician. Then Marth walked forward to the edge of the centre of Arena Ferox to meet the opposing champion, Chrom, the prince of the Halidom of Ylisse. Some words were exchanged and they started to duel, both favouring momentum and heavy attacks
"*sigh* some people will never learn" he said and thought back to when they sparred. After a short period of time, they disengaged and ran back to their respective sides. The plan was simple send small waives of attackers to wear them out and when they were; send in the strongest fighters to wipe them out. Simple and effective, just the way things were done in Ferox, but the West Khan fighters were at a major disadvantage, the "Shepherds" Will heard them refer themselves to had a tactician. He was yelling orders to his comrades and they carried them out with determination. The tactician's strategy was to wait for the opposition to charge at them; when they were within a reasonable distance the tactician would cast spells along with a few others to weaken the charge. Then the melee fighters would wipe out what was left of the charge, while all the while advancing towards the champion and the two vanguards.
"A tactician? Damn, why didn't we think of that. Will and Lon'qu looked at Marth waiting for the order to charge, Marth looked at the two and they all charged forward with Will and Lon'qu covering Marth's flanks making a "V" shape. Before the tactician could react the three were hacking and slashing wildly, and then Will saw the tactician, he charged towards him.
"So, you're the tactician?" Will asked
"Yes, I am."
"May I get your name?" Will asked.
"Thats strange."
"What is?"
"Most people just yell and shout at me and try to lob my head off."
"Heh, well I'm not most people, name's Will." He extended his sword.
"And mine is Robin" Robin tapped the tip of the extended blade. This was a tradition practised by every nation. When warriors introduced themselves to each other they would preform this act.
"Time to tip the scales!" Robin shouted and he lunged towards Will
"You tip the scales, Ill knock'em off the table." Will replied as he raised his shield to block the thrust; then he slashed horizontally, Robin blocked the attack with his sword and attacked with a thunder tome he pulled out, Will side stepped, narrowly dodging the spark of lighting as it crackled past him.
Will looked over his shoulder and saw Lon'qu facing against a mounted knight approached them with his lance extended.
"Pick a god and pray!" He shouted.
"In Ferox, we do not need gods." Lon'qu said as he attacked him. Lon'qu was at his left; trying to pull him down from the horse, but the horse fought back just as much as the knight did with its kicking and head slamming. Lon'qu dodged the knights spear and when it was stuck in the ground, Lon'qu leaped into the air and knocked him off his horse. When they both got up Will remembered he was in a fight of his own
The next thing Will remembered was waking up to a cleric standing over him with a staff.
After thanking the healer, he decided to go back to the inn; there was no point in hanging around. He wasn't mad at the loss of the tournament, he just signed to have fun and that is exactly what happened, he wanted to move somewhere else for a time to seek fun, and to meet new people. As he walked down the hall with all his things packed, he noticed Lon'qu checking out as well.
"So where are you going?" Will asked.
"Im going with the Shepherds, it seems they are at war with Plegia and Basilio ordered me to go with them."
"Well, good luck." Will said as he extended his hand.
"And to you." Lon'qu replied as he shook Will's hand. They walked their separate ways and waved each other goodbye.
It was night when Will was walking towards the Ferox harbour. He saw Lucina a few meters off with her mask on.
"Lucina?"
"Oh Will, hello."
"So where are you going now?"
"The Halidom of Ylisse I have private business there."
"Heh, lots of things are private with you." She smiled. "Well in any case, may our paths cross again." He extended his hand. Lucina took it.
"I hope they shall" She said. Then out of nowhere Will pecked her on the cheek, cracked a sly smile, and ran into the night, leaving a stunned, beet red Lucina.
Author's note: Will would have greeted "Marth" the same way if it was the real Marth.