Bloodstained

The stupid girl looked on with this mystified expression, either too shocked or too senseless to move a muscle. This overly pristine thing she used as a sword remained pointed to the ground, as though the girl hadn't yet realized she had set foot into a warzone. Probably the first time she had the taste of death on her tongue. A wonder she had made it this far.

Ike reached her in four strides. She kept still, only stared. If she hoped to find a blade in her chest, she was doing a fantastic job.

He elbowed her with his sword arm, and a spark of life returned to her when she hit the cobblestone. In time to see Ike bury Ragnell in the face of the Pheraen soldier who had snuck up behind her.

As soon as the enemy dropped his dagger, Ike whirled around and looked for other attackers in proximity. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" he asked the girl over his shoulder. "I don't know where you learned fighting, but it's not the same as with a nice sand yard where you only have to worry about one opponent. Learn to watch your back while you still have one."

The girl climbed to her feet in Ike's periphery, and although still uneasy, she resumed a defensive stance that reflected her training. Her form was almost a little too perfect with the way she balanced on the balls of her feet, ready to strike and retreat with the speed of a hawk. Whoever had picked her from the safe fencing ground of her home had made a good choice but had then forgotten to remind her that the fight against the Empire wouldn't be won by single combat with a nice set of rules to wrap everything together.

Lucky for her, the flow of Pheraen soldiers soon exhausted itself. Thanks in no small part to the unexpected reinforcements that drippled onto the plaza in groups of three and wasted no time in incapacitating the enemy. Before long, the soldiers had either slumped to the ground or had tossed aside their weapons and begged for mercy in the name of Naga, Grima, or whoever cared to hear their prayers.

That alone brightened Ike's mood enough to silence the aching in his left arm, but the handful of familiar faces he spotted in the crowd completed the victory.

Cordelia wore the biggest grin on her face when she strolled towards him, only to pick up pace and trap him in an embrace. "One of these days you have to tell me how you pulled all of this off," she said and tiptoed to make up for the considerable height difference between them. "And next time you plan a mission like this, I want in, you hear?"

Ike pulled back and studied her face. He couldn't believe it, even with her hands around his neck, part of him refused to believe she was real. "We heard there was a fire in Gran. I thought you were dead."

"I'm not that easy to kill. And neither are you, apparently."

Ike flexed the muscles of his left hand. "It was… close once or twice."

"Then it's a good thing we brought reinforcements. Just wait till you see some of the surprises we picked up."

"Reinforcements like her over there?" Ike pointed at the girl with the pristine sword.

She listened to their conversation with an unreadable expression, but none of their words or gestures escaped her watchful azure eyes. She had this look on her face Soren sometimes wore, the look of scholars who studied everything and everyone in their surroundings and filed the information in a limitless cabinet with neatly written name tags on them. And months or years later they jump-attacked you with knowledge about your favorite lute ballad, the time you stole from the cookie jar as a kid, or the name of your first wooden sword, little details mentioned in passing.

Ike shuddered and returned his focus to Cordelia. "I don't know where you get your recruits from, but maybe make sure they don't freak out the second they step onto a battlefield."

Cordelia straightened to an almost comical effect. Ike had never seen her stand to attention, but the image was cause for concern.

"She's not my recruit," Cordelia said. "Quite the opposite. This here is Lucina."

Ike pushed Cordelia from him, and his injury be damned, he clenched Ragnell's hilt until his tendons protested. "I know that name. Why did you bring her here?"

Cordelia blinked, thrown off-balance both by Ike's push and the harshness in his voice. "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with you?" Ike pointed Ragnell at the girl, Lucina. "She's one of Roy's knights. If you had cared to mention that earlier, I wouldn't have bothered to save her."

"She's not with Roy anymore."

Ike thought he had trouble hearing. Not once did he avert his eyes from the girl, the enemy. "And you believe that? Come on, Cordelia, you of all people should know that the Empire can't be trusted. Ever considered that she pretended to join you to spy on us?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, I did. She's genuine."

"And you expect me to believe that?"

Cordelia opened her mouth for an answer, but Lucina beat her to the case. "It's alright, Cordelia. I will clear this up myself."

And Cordelia obeyed. With a slight bow of the head, she stepped back and left the stage to Lucina. Never had Cordelia behaved with this disturbing tameness; when a Pheraen knight acted up, she sent him into the dust of the street, and even Ike better phrased a directive for her as a recommendation or risk an elbow to his nose. But Lucina had put a leash on her. This girl with the observing eyes and the pristine sword had spun Cordelia in a net so tight, she didn't even realize the danger.

Roy had outdone himself with this particular spy.

Lucina strode towards Ike and captured his gaze. All hints of the girl out of her league on the battlefield had vanished under the mantle of royalty.

"I suppose you are Ike," she stated. Not a single note of uncertainty swung with her words.

How had she figured this out? Ike had taken measures to keep his name out of any enemy records in regards to the rebellion; a few people had traded their heads for the information. Talk about a golden sword had circulated in shady tavern corners regardless, but no one should have the means to trace the stories back to Ike.

He risked a glance at Cordelia. How much else had she related to the enemy?

But Lucina gave him no time to dwell and continued. "You have every right to be suspicious of me. The king knows more than a few ways to deceive people. I fell for his tricks too. Which gives me all the more reason to fight for Altea and its people. In this, our goals align, don't they?"

She paused, a calculated move that gave Ike time to realize the logic behind her words. But he wouldn't make it that easy for her. So, he waited for her to pull the next trick out of her sleeve – which she did in quite the spectacular fashion.

"I am Marth's daughter, the only heir to the Altean throne. My father entrusted me to protect his people after his death, and although I failed in this responsibility before, I am here now. What you and the other rebels have achieved so far is more than impressive. The Altean flag you raised here in Aurelis speaks volumes about the success of your movement, and it is a statement even the king cannot ignore. I want to be a part of that movement."

Ike lowered Ragnell but kept his eyes on Lucina. Oh, she was good. She might even be honest. But he wouldn't hand her the keys to the rebellion because she had a good story to tell.

"Great to hear it," Ike said. "Maybe after you've proven yourself, I will stop sleeping with both eyes open when you're around."

She hadn't expected this kind of response. Lucina stepped back and furrowed like a mathematician who had found the solution to a troubling equation only to then realize she had misinterpreted the first number.

Cordelia put a hand on Ike's arm. "I didn't want to believe it either, but she's the real thing."

"Her father's a dead monarch, great. Doesn't give her a free pass in trustworthiness. She's not cut out for the battlefield either way." Ike turned towards Lucina. "When push comes to shove, will you have the guts to kill Roy? You'd have to get real close to push that brittle sword into his chest. Close enough to feel his blood on your face. You got the nerves for that?"

The thought visibly unsettled Lucina. Her left hand wandered to her cheek as though the crimson trails of the king's death already stained the skin. Bet she hadn't thought someone would counter her claims of royalty with such a visceral question.

Ike watched her squirm for a few more moments before he turned to leave. Next to the line of Pheraen prisoners kneeling before the milky shop window of an abandoned tailor's, the plaza burst with dead and injured soldiers, and the moans of the latter hung above the cobblestone like summer heat. Impossible to get rid of. Impossible to ignore. A few men clung to their spilled guts. Many more had given up and let their blood mingle with the slippery film of crimson that plopped under Ike's boots. He didn't look forward to find a familiar face among them, but someone had to count the dead, and Lucina didn't seem up to the challenge.

He rolled over a few bodies. Checked for pulses. Offered a mercy kill to an enemy soldier where necessary. Did his best to keep his breath shallow and prevent the stench of decayed flesh from flooding his system. Every twenty steps or so, Ike risked a glimpse at Lucina.

She had overcome her fluster and talked to the Pheraen soldiers. They soaked up her every word, some with awe, some with resentment, some with fear in their eyes, but all of them unable to escape her spell. A handful of rebels had gathered in her shadow as well, including Cordelia and a stocky, well-nourished man of around thirty. He had probably converted alongside Lucina – otherwise he wouldn't have been in such shape.

Ike had stared at the scene for a good minute when Soren emerged behind him with all the unbelievable quiet of a breeze. A few burn holes disfigured the hem of his robe, but other than that, he had managed the battle unscathed.

"You look awful," Soren said and stabbed the bandage around Ike's arm with an accusing finger.

Ike bent down and rolled the motionless soldier in front of him on her back. She was missing half her face, and each of her raspy breaths sprayed droplets of blood onto the squished remains of her throat.

"Thanks."

"After going over the plan with you a hundred times, I am surprised you abandoned it so soon after the operation started," Soren said and painstakingly avoided eye contact with the half-dead soldier. "Titania will starve you with silence for a week, and although I too would be elated to express my discontent, I fear silence will rather relief than punish you. Still, you could have mentioned the possibility of reinforcements at least once."

Ike plunged Ragnell into the soldier's chest. The death throes stopped. "That wasn't part of the plan. I guess we got lucky for once."

"Highly unlikely. You have collected enough bad karma to attract misfortune for the rest of your life."

"I see everyone's a jester today." Ike groaned and pointed at Lucina, who had finished her speech and studied him from a safe distance like a manic but fascinating exhibit in her collection. "That girl for example claims to be the daughter of your dead monarch."

"Aha. How curious." Soren adopted a mirror image of Lucina's expression, and Ike felt the need to question his life choices. "There seems to be a physical resemblance at least."

"She said she quit the ranks of Roy's knights to fulfill the wish of her father and protect Altea," Ike said. When spoken out loud, the story sounded even more ridiculous. Lost daughters of dead kings didn't drop from the sky, and they especially didn't trade the comforts of a shiny knight career for a life on the run.

Soren tapped his chin. "The universe works in mysterious ways. But the details all line up. Yes, the recent happenings all make sense now…"

"What are you mumbling about?"

"Ike, do you remember the reports we heard about a deserter among Roy's knights? The soldiers at the village near the Silver Stream were looking for her. A substantial effort for a single fugitive. Unless one considers that the fugitive is the sole heir to the Altean throne. And the withdrawal of soldiers from Aurelis – no other threat would necessitate such a maneuver except for the resurgence of the Altean royalty."

"And should I now go kneel in the dust in front of her?"

Soren raised a brow. "This is no joking matter. Her arrival might very well change our entire campaign against the Pheraen Empire."

"Fantastic, I'm thrilled beyond belief," Ike snarled. He was getting tired of this conversation. "Until she figures out a way to live up to the sparkling reputation you've hung around her neck, I'm gonna do my job if you don't mind."

After a glare in Lucina's direction, Ike waded deeper into the mess of bodies piled on the plaza, on the lookout for survivors.

Lucina had nurtured a fascination for Ike before she had met him. But to stand face to face with him had defied all her expectations. He didn't match the image of the masterful tactician bend over candle-lit maps and complicated scriptures of long dead generals Cordelia had painted in Lucina's mind. Neither was he the affectionate type who offered his arm to a woman after she stalked in heels for too long on a ball she didn't enjoy. He had more edges to cut on than muscles to lean against.

And he was impervious to Lucina's voice. With Virion, Cordelia, and even with Klein, Lucina had known how to approach them, and sooner or later she had found the right gears to crank and the right levers to pull so that they played by her rules. Many of the rebels under her command had needed nothing more than the idea of a savior, a royal leader to cling to. Ike on the other hand had shrugged off her relation to the Altean throne without missing a beat.

In every sense, he was a walking enigma.

The men and women who had overtaken Aurelis alongside him gave into their curiosity and approached Lucina at some point while abandoned metal spear heads sizzled on the plaza. Without exception, Lucina tickled a bow or at least an awestruck gaze out of the mismatched assembly of mages, former knights, and enthusiastic peasants. She earned similar reactions from the prisoners. Two young Alteans ripped the Pheraen crest from their uniforms and swore their loyalty to her on the spot.

Ike, however, kept his distance.

In the ruins of Aurelis' garrison, Lucina hoped to find information to distract her from this particular issue, but even in the spartan office belonging to the local commander, she could not help but retrace her conversation with Ike again, again, and over again. At least one of his arguments had to explain his resentment towards her. Unfortunately, the noise her company produced on the pebble-ridden floor did not aid her concentration.

"Finding a Lorca in a sea of grass is easier than this," Cordelia said. Another book made the acquaintance of the floor with a thud.

Lucina wasn't listening. Or rather, she wished she could stop listening.

"Does Ike have a grudge against the Altean royal house?" she asked after she had skimmed the report in her hand three times without remembering any words.

Cordelia had planted herself on the office desk, the owner of which had either died or fled the city. After a feline stretch, she tossed the papers in her hands aside. "Not as far as I know. But you can never tell with him."

"He distrusts me."

"That's just because he doesn't like people in general." Cordelia hopped from the desk and strolled to where a hole gaped in the stone wall and allowed for a look at the garrison's inner yard below. "He'll come around eventually."

Lucina crumbled the report in her hands. Eventually would be too late. She needed all the fighters she could persuade now if she wanted to march against Lycia. On foot, they would be at the mercy of Roy's Pegasus and wyvern riders long before the outer walls came into view. The Elibe could have negated this problem. But Ike had sent the ship into an early watery grave.

"I am inclined to agree," Soren said from his spot in the corner of the room. He had offered his help in searching the military records for details on recent troop movements, but Lucina suspected he used this as an excuse to study her instead. Maybe on Ike's orders.

"As long as you plan to remove the king from his throne, you will have his support," Soren concluded.

Lucina grabbed another paper out of the stack in front of her. "I hope so. Seizing Lycia will be no easy task."

"At present, I would advise against such a move. A significant part of Aurelis' forces has left for the capital. And the moment Roy hears about our victory here, he will send them on a manhunt for you and everyone else who challenged his rule over Aurelis."

To strangle the rebellious flame before it spread. Yes, Lucina could picture Roy as he instructed his generals with these exact words.

But hiding in the cellar of a crooked farmhouse until Roy let down his guard and the people of Altea had forgotten the victories at Persis and Aurelis was no option.

Lucina looked at Soren over the rim of her paper. "I will need yours and Ike's full support. And perhaps that still won't be enough. But Naga wouldn't have entrusted me with Falchion if she thought we had no chance of winning."

Soren's composed front crumbled. He clicked his front teeth as though he needed to split the information into bite-sized chunks. "You talked to Naga? And she answered?"

"I had a conversation with her in Seliora, yes."

"Extraordinary," Soren whispered. He paced along the room, the reports forgotten. "Do you understand the gravity of this gift?"

"You are a mage, aren't you? I'm sure Naga answered a few of your prayers."

"Never with words." Teeth clicking, Soren stalked across the carpet of loose papers. "Extraordinary…"

Cordelia kicked a stone out of the crumbled remains of the wall. Despite the noise, Soren didn't even blink, and Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Lock two religious people in a room, and one of them is sure to lose his sanity. But please, exert yourself. I'm gonna go before I'm the one losing my mind."

"What would you suggest we do?" Lucina asked. She loathed the thought of leaving Cordelia out of her sight. Or worse, have her walk over to Ike and relate Lucina's insecurities to him.

"I'm not the plan-maker type." Cordelia grinned. "Which is probably why my party got the short end in Gran. Besides, I need all my energy to keep Virion away from Cherche, otherwise she'll get cavities from all the sugary words he will force-feed her."

Lucina craned her neck, but the doorframe Virion had occupied lacked any trace of him – save for the bucket of rose water odor wafting down the corridor.

"This might be trickier than you thought," Lucina said.

Cordelia jerked. "Oh no, no, no, why did no one stop him?"

Without a moment to lose, she stormed out of the door, and the sound of her boots crashing onto stone tiles followed.

Lucina walked over to the hole in the wall. Amidst the scattered bricks and mortared wall chunks, little more than an overlay of sandstone dust across the yard, stretched a wyvern. The creature, evidently responsible for the destruction, sunbathed and enjoyed the fruits of its labor with its lizard eyes half closed. A woman, judging from her attire one of Ike's rebels, cuddled the wyvern like other people do with kitten. Her hairband gave her a youthful appearance, almost a tangible innocence if not for the deadly reptile she commanded. It was this innocence people chase during wartimes under the pretense that as long as they cling to this innocence, their crimes will not find them.

The picture faded when Virion strode onto the stage. Ever the man of effusive gestures, he approached the woman, either unaware or indifferent towards the threat of Cordelia's spear targeting his backside.

"Cherche, how many cold nights have I been starved of your presence." He spoke with all the fervor found in a theater performance. In a play written, directed, and acted by himself. "Mortal men cannot know greater suffering."

The woman, Cherche, blushed and tried to cover her fluster with a witty remark that fell flat in its delivery. "You never admitted you were mortal. And what are you doing here anyway? I thought you were still imprisoned in Persis."

"Ah, but these shackles could not keep me, the archangel of archers, away from you for long. The gravitational pull on my feet cannot compare to your influence on the rest of my body."

"I went through all this trouble to save you! I had a bargain with Ike and everything."

Virion perked up and enclosed Cherche's hand with his. "You… wanted to save me?"

Cherche's cheeks reddened further until they assumed the same color as her hair. "N-no! That was a purely practical decision! Persis is an important stronghold…"

"Of course, a practical decision, I understand. Yes, we are all dutybound to our hearts."

"My heart has nothing to do with this! And if you don't stop looking at me now, I'll tell Minerva to eat you."

Virion laughed and placed a kiss on Cherche's hand. "If you give the order, I will most gladly die by your hands."

"You… you can be so…"

But whatever halfhearted insults Cherche planned to throw at Virion went under in Cordelia's tirade as she stomped into the open yard and swung her spear with murderous intent. "You boundless bastard, take your hands back where they belong. No one deserves to bear you for longer than a minute. And if it's the last thing I do, I'll get rid of you somehow. I'll ask Roy if he wants you as a peace offering – but knowing you, you'd drive him to insanity too."

"Always open for a little jest, aren't you, Cordelia?" Virion asked, but the spear head Cordelia poised inches away from his face compelled him to shut up.

"I'm not joking."

Cherche stepped in and put a hand on the shaft. "Maybe you're overreacting just a tad here."

"So you are concerned about my wellbeing!" Virion cried triumphantly.

"I'm not!"

"Your ego is too big to allow for a word like concern in your vocabulary. To the five hells with you!" Cordelia, now stuck between an overjoyed Virion and a far less joyful Cherche, struggled to fend off both of them, and in spite of the weapon in his face, Virion slipped through all her attempts to wrestle him to the ground. "Ike! Help me get these two away from each other before it's too late."

Ike?

Lucina directed her attention away from the fighting trio towards the broken entrance to the garrison where, sure enough, Ike had emerged. Maybe he had been looking for Soren. The unmatched golden sword rested beside him, and with its weight a part of the previous stiffness had fallen from his shoulders. Still he looked like a warrior. A little battered, with dry blood on his face; neither victor nor loser, but caught in perpetual conflict that would not give him free before his dying breath.

A walking enigma. And yet so easy to read.

Ike joined his comrades and put on the mask of the peacekeeper. Cordelia shoved him, Cherche clung to his arm, and Virion showered him with thanks for keeping his favorite fragile flower out of harm's way.

Lucina stood at the hole in the office wall, and through this hole she peered out of her life into theirs. For a moment, the universe stood still and allowed her a glimpse of a simplicity far away from strategies, destinies, and kingdoms, where the biggest worry was whether a man loved a woman.

Where the lives of these people not worth protecting?

Ike stole Cordelia's spear, she retaliated with a kick, Cherche cheered them on with one hand caught in Virion's grip —

And Lucina smiled.

Notes: At last! Did Lucina's and Ike's first interaction match your expectations? Their dynamic is one of the cornerstones to my plans going forward, and I hope I laid a solid groundwork here, one that is also believable with everything in mind we've seen of these characters so far. To be honest, this chapter was so much fun to write. Which is great, because the next two were and still are such a pain to edit. I'll guess we'll find out whether the additional work paid off next week. Till then!