[FE Gen] Fire Emblem: Dawn of Darkness (T)

[EmblemPrincess]

Okay, I love to write and I want to be a published author someday, so I've started out writing fanfiction. The first fanfic I ever wrote was actually a Zelda one still in progress, but I'm posting my Fire Emblem fic here instead.

NOTE: There will be mentions of a past FE short story I wrote called Ashes of War, which took place a few months after PoR. Ike and his men fought wolf laguz. Elincia's flashback in the first chapter of this FE fic is also part of Ashes of War. Also note that I wrote that story before I played Radiant Dawn.

Fire Emblem: Dawn of Darkness takes place...well technically a few months after RD, but the story begins a couple weeks after. Here Ike has gone to a new continent, and made some new friends. Ranulf is his companion. I'll begin with Chapter one. :]

Chapter 1: A Broken Love​

“Thank you…Ike…” she said. Just then, the two continued to gaze at each other, realizing how close their faces were. Ike, feeling a little nervous, remembered his conversation with Titania back at the mercenary fort and then couldn’t help but smile at the beautiful young queen standing before him.

“You’re…welcome,” he replied. “You know, we probably should—” Almost suddenly, Elincia pressed her lips against Ike’s, cutting him off. Ike couldn’t help but return the passionate kiss and let his hands slip around Elincia’s waist.

Elincia had her hands on Ike’s shoulders. The moment felt like it would last forever as Ike and Elincia remained in their embracing kiss. In her heart, Elincia knew she loved Ike and no one else. What other man had gone to protect her no matter what during the Mad King's War? Who else could she always turn to for help when trouble arose in Crimea? One could say Geoffrey, but somehow it didn't feel the same. Ike was also the one to always be there for her when she was sad or worried. He'd also taught her some of the things he knew about swordplay. Elincia couldn't want any man more than she wanted Ike. The two let go moments later, both with small smiles on their faces, and walked to the door from which they'd come.

“I love you…Ike,” Elincia said when she and Ike were at the door. “Good night…” Ike simply smiled, turned around, and started walking back down the corridor. Just after taking a few steps, he turned his head back around to partially face Elincia. The last thing she heard him say before leaving was “I love you too.”

The memory of the one she loved kept ringing through Queen Elincia’s head as she sat there in her bedroom in Castle Crimea. It had been over two weeks since she had last seen him, and now she already missed him much. If only the rumors going around that Elincia and Geoffrey, the leader of Crimea’s knights, were the ones in love hadn't been so major, they wouldn’t have been "forced" to marry, and Elincia could have stayed with the man she truly loved. They feared a possible uproar of questions and protest could erupt if Ike and Elincia's love had been made more public, plus Elincia would eventually need to produce an heir. The truth was that the two only saw each other as really good friends. The only thing Elincia had left to remember the man she loved was a long, worn headband he once wore. Elincia now had it tightly gripped in her trembling hands. She’d gotten it from Oscar, one of Crimea’s knights, who had found it in the fort of the old mercenary company he once belonged to.

As tears began to fall down Elincia’s cheeks, she thought of how other people she knew had stayed with the ones they loved. Sothe, a thief from Daein, had married a light sage named Micaiah who was now the queen of Daein and they, too, saw happiness together. The more she thought about it, the more upset Elincia got. Why couldn’t she be with the man she loved too? If the queen of Daein could marry a lowly thief, why couldn't Elincia marry a common mercenary? Even then, other people she knew married the ones they loved as well. Why did she have to be the only one to not have been happy in the end? She lost her thought when there was a knock at the door and Geoffrey walked in. He noticed the tears trailing down Elincia’s cheeks and sensed the reason why.

“You miss him, don’t you?” Geoffrey guessed. Elincia quickly turned around to face him and wiped her tears.

“Yes…Oh, Geoffrey, I’m sorry! I miss him a lot…” Elincia admitted.

“Don’t worry, I understand,” Geoffrey replied. “Ike loved you. And you loved him. It was he you should have been with.” Elincia was speechless for a few seconds.

“R-really? You don’t mind that it wasn’t you I fell in love with?” Elincia said, wanting to be sure.

“Of course. I never saw you as anything more than a good friend and you felt the same towards me, right?” Geoffrey asked. “Why those rumors started, I don’t know. But Ike was the one who loved you and he’s the one you should be with if that’s what you desire.”

“You’re right, Geoffrey…” Elincia agreed. “But how am I going to find him…? How will this marriage between us end…?”

“You just leave that to me,” Geoffrey replied with a smile. “I’ll make sure you get out of here. Though, Lucia and I will miss you deeply, we understand.” Elincia couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks again. She couldn’t help but get up and throw Geoffrey a hug for his efforts. As some of her sadness began to turn into excitement, Elincia thought of how Ike would react when she was finally in his arms again. She knew she couldn’t live without the man she loved anymore and had to leave, no matter what anyone else thought.

“Oh, Geoffrey, I can’t thank you enough!” Elincia cried. Geoffrey returned her hug.

“Hey, anything to make you happy,” he said with a smile.

“Yeah, but…we don’t know where Ike is…” Elincia pointed out after she let go of Geoffrey.

“I have a pretty good idea,” Geoffrey replied. “You know how Altarais was recently discovered to exist, right?” Elincia gasped with surprise. Altarais, of course! The continent of Altarais had been discovered to exist west of Tellius just before Elincia heard Ike was going to leave.

“You mean he may have gone there?” she asked. “I must find a boat!”

“Now not so fast,” Geoffrey said, smiling again. “Aren’t you going to pack a few things first?”

“Oh, right, of course,” Elincia replied. “I guess I’m just so eager to go.” Without a moment to spare, Elincia grabbed a bag and began stuffing the essentials inside, including Ike’s old headband.

Why? Why, Elincia…? Why did this all have to happen? Ike kept asking himself the same question over many times as he stood on a high rock overlooking the vast sea bordering the continent of Altarais. It was later in the day when the sun was on the verge of setting. It shined upon the large, open waters ahead. Why did you have to marry Geoffrey? Why did we have to keep everything about us so secret? Unable to rid his mind of the thoughts of his true love back in Tellius, the events leading to the separation of him and Elincia replayed over and over. Because of the new conflicts that had erupted dealing with the Dawn Brigade and aiding the Laguz Alliance as well as the rebel in Crimea and defeating the goddess Ashera, Ike and Elincia had stopped showing all signs that they were in love to concentrate on what was important. As a result, rumors started going around that Elincia and Geoffrey were really the ones in love. When the rumor reached him, Ike couldn’t believe his ears and decided to leave for the newly discovered Altarais. Had Ike and Elincia not turned all their focus on the now-resolved conflicts and kept their relationship so obscure, Lord Renning, who was Elincia’s uncle, and the Crimean commonfolk would have recognized that in truth, Elincia loved Ike.

As Ike kept watching the beating waves in the sea before him, another thought came to his mind. He wished somehow he could go back to Tellius to see Elincia again, but with her married to Geoffrey, he knew he could not show his face again. It would only make matters worse and possibly cause even more rumors to start spreading. No good would come out of Elincia secretly seeing Ike while she had already married either. Ike hung his head in shame and thought there was no way for him to see her again without causing trouble. Just then, a pair of footsteps came up from behind him. It was Ranulf, Ike’s companion and close friend on his journey. He had left the laguz kingdom of Gallia to join Ike on the trip. Ike turned around to see the cat laguz standing there.

“Oh, hey Ranulf…” he said.

“I figured I’d find you up here. You’re not sulking about the rumor incident again, are you?” Ranulf asked. “I told you it wasn’t your fault.”

“I know, but I still feel I could have made things come out differently,” Ike replied. “I wish I could just turn back time.”

“Well, I don’t know, but listen, I know how you feel,” Ranulf replied. “You know, about Elincia and all.”

“What? Ranulf, I love her. I could have had a life with her, had those rumors and the trouble in Tellius not started. Sure, she’s royalty, but despite how much I dislike that and nobility, I’d choose love over any of it any day,” Ike stated. “Since when have you ever been involved in anything to do with being in love?” Ranulf heaved a sigh of nervousness before answering Ike’s question.

“Well…I never told anyone this, but I…for the longest time I felt it was either Lethe or Lyre I loved,” Ranulf admitted. “I couldn’t choose between either of them. Being twins, they were similar to one another and if you loved one, you can’t help but love the other.”

“Oh, I see where you’re going with this. You chose to leave both so you didn’t have to make a choice.”

“Exactly. I never even knew who I loved, let alone could I be with her.”

“I see. Perhaps I’m not solely to blame, but then I can’t help thinking Geoffrey is responsible too,” Ike replied. “I actually once thought he did love Elincia, but I never said anything.”

“Well, I really don’t know about that either, but I can tell you that the rumors were definitely no one’s fault,” Ranulf assured Ike. “They simply started out of people jumping to conclusions.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Ike agreed. “I can’t pout about it forever, so I may as well set it aside for now. Let’s get going, it’s starting to get late.”

As the days went by, Elincia kept doing everything she could to find Ike as soon as possible. Almost missing the last boat to Altarais of the day when she was leaving Crimea, Elincia stood on the deck and looked out at the sea before her. Hopefully Altarais wouldn’t be too long of a journey, at least not any longer than a boat trip from Crimea to Begnion, which was roughly two months. However, to her pleasure, the boat trip was said to be only a few weeks, due to the calm waters and the fact that this boat moved faster than the one Elincia and Ike had been on when they went to Begnion three years ago during the Mad King’s War. Altarais was also supposed to not be extremely far away. As she stayed upon the deck, never taking Ike out of her mind, Elincia wondered how Geoffrey was doing on the matter of meeting with Renning and ending the marriage. She hoped that her uncle would understand everything that had happened was a mistake.

Deciding to keep her identity of former queen to herself, Elincia, after two more weeks had gone by, went back below deck one night to turn in. The halls of the inside of the boat were full of people going to Altarais about their business, and having general conversation. As Elincia approached her cabin, a red-haired woman who looked not much older than her, had turned a corner of the hall in a run and bumped into Elincia. The impact, due to the fact that the woman had been running, caused Elincia to stumble, but the woman caught her before she could fall.

“Oh! I beg your pardon! I’m so sorry!” the woman apologized. Elincia simply smiled.

“It’s alright, it was just an accident,” she replied. “I’ve…never seen you before. Are you from Altarais?”

“Why, yes, I am,” the woman replied, smiling back. “I’m Azura. You might say I’m part of the reason the people of Tellius know of our land.”

“Ah, I’m from Tellius. My name’s Elincia,” Elincia said. “I have an important matter to attend to in Altarais. I’m…looking for someone who I think went there.”

“You don’t say? You wouldn’t happen to be looking for a man named Ike, would you?” Azura guessed. Elincia’s eyes widened in surprise.

“How…how’d you know that?!” she gasped. Azura smiled again and pushed back her long red hair. She wore some armor on her body and a sword was sheathed at her side. Elincia guessed she was a soldier of Altarais, but still wondered how she knew Ike.

“Ah, you see, he is indeed there. I met him at the harbor we’re now heading for when he first arrived,” Azura explained. “He’s quite the acquaintance.” Azura went on to say that she had heard from Ike about the Mad King’s War and how he was the hero of it. She had also heard about the blessed golden blade, Ragnell, and the defeating of King Ashnard as well as the issue with the goddess Ashera and Laguz Alliance. Azura then mentioned Ike’s rescuing Elincia and the crowning of her as queen of Crimea. Elincia looked on either side of her to make sure no one was around to hear what Azura was saying. She also didn’t feel it was proper to mention Ike’s defeating Ashera either.

“I, um…yeah, I am queen, but please, I want to keep that to myself!” Elincia told her. “I don’t want to rule anymore if I have to sacrifice the throne to be with the man I love…”

“Oh yes, Ike did say he loved you, didn’t he? That is disappointing for me. I was beginning to grow rather fond of him. But I understand,” Azura replied. “In that case, I’ll be happy to help you track him down. After all, I do know my way around town at the harbor.”

“Oh! Thank you!” Elincia cried. “That is most appreciated!”

“Hey, no problem,” Azura said with a smile. “And don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody of your identity. Your secret’s safe with me.”

“Okay, thanks!” Elincia said again.

A few more days went by as Elincia grew to know Azura a little better each time they spoke. Ike had apparently talked with her a lot as well, as she knew more than Elincia had expected. Azura also explained that she met Ranulf, the one who had accompanied Ike on his journey, as well as Ike himself. She knew a little bit about the Greil Mercenaries, the aiding of the Laguz Alliance, and a little about the laguz themselves. Elincia told her three kinds lived on Tellius, the beast, the bird, and the dragon tribes. She also mentioned an incident that had occurred with a new tribe, the wolves, just a month after the Mad King’s War. Ike was almost killed in the battle, despite how strong he is even without Ragnell. Two of the few remaining wolves that had inhabited a country called Hatari had then been seen in Tellius during the time of the Crimean rebel.

“Wow. That must have been some battle,” Azura commented one early morning. “And a strong leader too. Ike mentioned something about a skill he uses and trains with called…Aether was it?”

“Yeah, that. He used it against the wolf king, but the king still had a lot of energy, despite how badly wounded the move left him,” Elincia finished. “Ike brought him down, but just barely, thanks to a lightning strike sending a boulder crashing down.” Elincia continued by mentioning the boulder incident where Ike was shoved to the ground and buried in falling boulders, but his superior physical strength enabled him to lift the big one off and throw it a short distance. The wolf king, along with a lot of his comrades, were bowled over and killed. The wolf queen, Nailah, had apparently no knowledge of the battle at all for an unknown reason.

“Holy cow! I noticed Ike had quite the set of muscles, but I never pictured him doing something like that!” Azura exclaimed.

“Yeah! He really did it. He could tell you!” Elincia replied. “As a result of being badly wounded and using up a lot of strength and energy, Ike fainted and went unconscious, but Rhys, one of their staff wielders, was able to save him.”

“Well, thank goodness. It sounds like Ike had it real rough,” Azura said. Elincia nodded in agreement as the two headed onto the deck that morning. The sun was shining brightly with few clouds soaring over head in the blue sky. A light, cool breeze blew across the boat as it continued its journey to its destination. Elincia peered over the front of the boat and could faintly see hills, trees, and mountains in the far distance. A smile formed on her face as she pointed to the sight of land.

“Hey! Is that Altarais?” Elincia asked, turning to Azura.

“Yep! We’re almost there,” she replied.

“Oh, finally! Soon I’ll see Ike again for the first time in nearly a month and a half now…” Elincia said, tears of happiness building up in her eyes. Perhaps Ike was still right there in town on the harbor, thinking of her at that very moment. She imagined how happy he’d be when she was in his arms again. Around a half an hour later, the boat finally began to pull into the dock. Elincia grabbed her bag from her boat cabin and bolted through the exit once it was opened. Azura followed behind, seemingly happy to be in her homeland again. The two came to a halt on the road into the little town called Galden at the coast of the nation of Talgria and started walking.

“Okay, I’ve seen Ranulf around here in town a lot, so if we’re going to find Ike, we should look for him first,” Azura said as they walked. “If we find Ranulf, we’ll have less trouble looking for Ike. He’ll know where he is.”

“Ah, good idea. Let’s go!” Elincia agreed. “But wait, Ranulf is a laguz…the beorc here get along with them?”

“Yeah, we do. We see no reason why they should be treated as unequals,” Azura explained as the two young women began their search in town for Ranulf, going down each road and alley way they could find. But the laguz was nowhere to be found. They even asked some a few people if they had seen a blue-haired beast laguz wandering about in town, but no one had. Still, they kept up the search hoping Ranulf would at least come into town sooner or later and tell them where they could find Ike. Almost suddenly, just as Azura and Elincia reached the outskirts of town, a group of bandits appeared out of nowhere from the woods ahead. The ring-leader cackled with laughter when he set eyes upon the two women.

“Well, well! Looks like we got ourselves a couple o’ girls askin’ fer some trouble, mates!” he said, noticing both were armed. “Let’s show ‘em what we got!” Azura glared at them and drew her sword, which was a Sonic Sword.

“Not on my watch will you cause any trouble!” Azura retorted and charged at the leader. Since the leader was wielding an axe, Azura had the upper hand with her sword, but it was unknown how strong the bandits actually were.

“Elincia! I’ll hold these idiots off! Keep looking for Ranulf!” Azura called back. However, Elincia had other ideas.

“But…you might not be strong enough by yourself!” Elincia pointed out.

“Don’t worry, I’ve handled guys like these a lot in the past!” Azura replied as she dodged an axe strike and landed a hit on the bandit next to her. “Just go!”

“Al-alright,” Elincia nervously replied. However, one of the bandits saw her start to run away.

“Oh no ya don’t!” he shouted and ran after her. “Yer not goin’ anywhere!”

“Elincia, behind you!” Azura shouted, noticing the situation. Elincia turned around, having heard what the bandit said.

“Oh yeah? My blade says otherwise!” she retorted and stabbed the bandit right in his gut with Amiti. He immediately fell from the critical hit. Elincia then continued running as fast as she could back through town before any other bandits could try to stop her. Scrambling through the roads as fast as she could, Elincia frantically sought out Ranulf, hoping to find him or even Ike before getting totally lost, and lost in a town all by herself was the last thing she wanted to be at the moment.



End of chapter 1. Chapters 2 and 3 are completed as well, but first I'll give you a bit of info on Azura. She's this story's main lord, with Ike second. Her class is a Scout, which I created to be the female counterpart of Ike's Ranger class from Path of Radiance. That means she's not of noble birth and she'll become a lord later.

I've also got a list of my set of "playable" characters somewhere. You'll see when they start appearing. ;D

 

[EmblemPrincess]

Time for chapter 2. ^^

Chapter 2: Missing Heroes​

In a small camp they had set up on the outskirts of Galden, Ranulf and Ike sat down to a small breakfast of what was left of the food they bought a few days ago. For a few minutes the two said nothing and just ate. Ike still had his mind on the situation from the previous evening, but attempted to refrain from showing it. Every now and then he glanced at Ranulf hoping he wouldn’t notice. There must be some way to see Elincia again, Ike had decided, because where there’s a will, there’s a way. A few minutes later though, Ike’s thoughts were interrupted by Ranulf getting up with his empty plate.

“Hey, Ike, I’m going back into town again to pick up some more food and supplies,” Ranulf said. “I’ll be back later.”

“Alright, I guess I’ll go out back and train on the tree out there,” Ike decided. “Oh, hey, Azura might be back from her trip by now. If you see her, tell her I could use a sparring partner.”

“Yeah, it's been quite awhile. Will do,” Ranulf agreed with a smile. He grabbed a bag and then headed through the doorway, taking the path into town. Ike grabbed his sword, Ettard after he cleaned up his plate and went out back, still rather depressed.

Ranulf, meanwhile, had switched to cat form and ran at top speed into town, then transformed back once he arrived. Galden seemed as peaceful as ever. Ranulf began to wish Tellius had been like that, and maybe if it had been, he and Ike would never have had to leave. He also thought about how the beorc and laguz there were at peace, another thing that Tellius never was for awhile. The absence of prejudice against laguz was a comfort to Ranulf, but he still missed Lethe and Lyre and even Kyza, a tiger laguz who had served under him, every now and then. He tried to take his mind off of his thoughts when he finally set foot in the town’s market, hoping he and Ike had earned enough gold from their previous day’s work as local mercenaries.

As he walked through the market, scrutinizing the place for exactly what was needed, Ranulf glanced around at the numerous beorc and laguz who were mixed together. Since he and Ike had been in town for two months now, however, Ranulf had gotten used to it, even though it took some time. Just as he was approaching a place that sold meat, fruit, bread, and other necessities, Ranulf thought he heard the sound of his name in the distance. Thinking he was imagining it, he carried on, browsing the numerous food choices before him. Still, his name rang out again, and Ranulf made out a female voice coming from the distance to his right. It sounded so familiar, and when Ranulf placed it, he just stood there staring into space. But it couldn’t be her… Ranulf thought. Could it?

“RANULF!” the female voice called again. Upon hearing it, Ranulf shook his head, snapping himself out of his trance. He turned to his right and just as he thought, Elincia was running down the path as fast as her legs could carry her. She stopped in front of the shocked blue cat laguz and caught her breath before speaking.

“Elincia?! But…but—” Ranulf stammered, too shocked to form a complete sentence.

“I’ll explain later. I’m just glad I found you!” Elincia replied. “Where’s Ike?”

“Uh, oh, he’s at our camp on the outskirts of town. Gosh, he’ll sure be happy to see you,” Ranulf replied, still in shock.

“As will I. Let’s go!” Elincia insisted.

“O-of course.” Ranulf was still surprised at Elincia’s presence when the two headed in the direction he’d come, as somehow she found out exactly where Ike had gone and left her throne in Crimea. Still, Ranulf focused on what was more important and led Elincia back towards the camp, leaving town again in a mere fifteen minutes. They traveled up the path that went by the camp, Elincia’s heart pounding with excitement. She couldn’t wait to finally be in Ike’s arms again after two months and couldn’t help but smile the whole way there. However, when they arrived, the sight before them was what they had least expected to see.

Ranulf and Elincia stopped dead in their tracks to find the entire camp torn down. What remained of the tent was scattered on the ground, rips and tears all over its pieces. What was left of Ranulf and Ike’s supplies were in a mess in the grass while their small table was overturned with two legs broken off, the two chairs that went with it also broken. The only thing that appeared to be missing, however, was Ike himself, and that worried Elincia more than anything else. She frantically scrutinized the whole area for her missing lover.

“What the—?!” Ranulf exclaimed with shock when he saw the destroyed camp.

“Ike! IKE!” Elincia called. But there was no reply to be heard. It was clear that Ike was long gone. Minutes later, however, Elincia spotted something dark pale red hanging from a branch on a tree nearby. Upon moving closer to it, she noticed it was a piece of Ike’s long cape. Elincia immediately plucked it from the branch and couldn’t prevent tears from coming to her eyes.

“Oh, Ike, where are you?!” she sobbed, squeezing the piece of cape.

“We’ll figure this out, Elincia,” Ranulf promised. “But where to begin…” The two thought for a moment before Elincia remembered the bandits that had attacked her and Azura. She jumped at recalling the scene.

“Hey, I bet those bandits Azura and I met earlier have something to do with this!” she said.

“Bandits? Azura?” Ranulf replied. “You met Azura and some bandits?”

“Yes, I can show you where they were. They were just over that way,” Elincia replied, pointing northwest. “Azura said she could handle them, though. I hope she’s alright.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Ranulf agreed. With no hesitation, the two started off in the direction Elincia had pointed and it took only minutes for them to arrive at the scene of the bandit attack. However, to their dismay, neither Azura nor the bandits were in sight. Only a rabble of footprints was left in the dirt, and was the only thing for Elincia and Ranulf to examine. Upon looking closer, the footprints were seen to be scattered about and then were headed in the direction opposite of that where Elincia and Ranulf had come. Elincia was still looking at the footprints, hoping Ike may have been there, when Ranulf looked up and notice other strange patterns were left.

“Yeah, there was a struggle here alright,” he pointed out. “But this other pattern in the dirt shows someone was dragged away too. This isn’t good…”

“Oh no! That means they’ve got Azura…” Elincia concluded from the evidence. “I feared something like this might happen!”

“Yeah, we have to hurry,” Ranulf agreed. “We have no choice but to follow the trail they left.” Elincia nodded with concern and followed the blue cat laguz up the path where the footprints trailed off. As they were going, Elincia couldn’t help but fear for both Azura’s and Ike’s safety, because it wasn’t known if there were more bandits in league with the ones she and Azura at met or how strong they were. Despite this, both Elincia and Ranulf pressed on, eventually passing by a mounted knight wearing green armor and had blue-green hair. Elincia immediately stopped to inquire about the situation.

“Oh, excuse me, sir knight, you didn’t happen to see a blue-haired man wearing a green headband and red cape come by here earlier, did you?” she asked.

“Or some bandits and a red-haired woman with a ponytail who’s wearing light blue armor?” Ranulf added.

“Erm…let me think…” the knight replied. “Ah, I believe I did see a man like that earlier heading in the direction you are, but I’m afraid not the bandits or woman you speak of. That man seemed to be angry and in a hurry, though.”

“Oh, thank you! Ranulf, c’mon!” Elincia scolded. Ranulf didn’t hesitate to agree and the two continued in their direction. The knight simply looked at them in slight confusion and went about his business.

As Ranulf and Elincia kept following the tracks, they were led away from Galden and in a northwestern direction. A chain of mountains was in the distance, the closest one being about a mile and a half away. Still, the two went, hurrying as quickly as their feet could get them to find Ike, Azura, and the bandits. The tracks were beginning to disappear in places, however, which made things more difficult. Despite that, Elincia eventually glanced down and noticed a new set of footprints not seen at the sight of the bandit attack. She almost immediately recognized who they belonged to and gasped when she figured it out.

“Ranulf! These boot prints are Ike’s!” Elincia cried. “I recognize them anywhere! That knight was right!”

“Really? You know what the undersides of his boots look like?” Ranulf replied, raising one eyebrow in confusion.

“Well, you can’t be too careful when making sure you can always figure out where the one you love is,” Elincia assured with a wink. Ranulf decided to take her word for it and the two continued on, arriving at the foot of the mountain fifteen minutes later. There at the food was a small village, much smaller than Galden. There wasn’t nearly as many people in the roads either, but Ranulf and Elincia inquired about their situation as much as they could, and a number of the answers they received said a man fitting Ike’s description had come through there in a hurry recently. Desperate, Ranulf and Elincia started up the mountain, hoping Ike and Azura were okay, if both were there.

Elincia found it troublesome to walk the rocky mountain trail without stumbling every once in awhile, though Ranulf helped her keep her footing. Since only Ike had been seen coming that way, the two assumed the bandits had taken Azura in another direction so they wouldn’t be seen. Still, they didn’t lose hope of finding her as well as Ike. However, when the two were not much farther up the trail, they were spotted by some bandits a little farther up. Elincia recognized them as the same ones that had attacked her and Azura, plus a number more.

“Ranulf, that’s them!” she exclaimed. Ranulf looked where Elincia was pointing.

“Hm? Who’s there?” one of the bandits asked. “Oh, a little girl an’ her cat. How nice for ya to come and play.” With that, the bandit cackled and gripped his axe, ready for a battle.

“Yeah, I bet they’ve come for that red-haired twit,” another added. “Well, ya ain’t goin’ to find her here! Hahaha!”

“You don’t tell us where she and Ike are and you’ll face my claws,” Ranulf threatened as he transformed into his blue cat form.

“Ike? We don’t know no Ike. But with little Redhead out o’ the way, we’re free teh do what we want, ain’t that right boys?” the first bandit replied. The whole group agreed by letting out a small cheer. Knowing now that they were obviously not going to comply with their demands, Elincia and Ranulf prepared to do battle. The group included eight bandits, each wielding an axe, which meant Elincia had the upper hand with Amiti. Ranulf was strong enough himself to handle them, and the two fought them one by one with ease. But as they kept traveling up the trail, more of them appeared. Still, they posed little threat to Ranulf and Elincia, especially since they soon spotted a familiar face standing on top of a cliff much higher up the mountain: Ike.

“Ranulf, there’s Ike!” Elincia exclaimed, pointing up ahead. She easily made out the swordsman’s blue hair, red cape, and green headband swaying in the breeze that had begun to blow.

“Oh thank g—wait a second, he’s unarmed!” Ranulf noticed as he looked closer at Ike. It was true. He had no weapon wielded in his hand or sheathed upon his back.

“Now why would he go after bandits without a sword? That just isn’t him!” Elincia protested. “Unless…they stole Ettard.”

“What? Oh man…” Ranulf groaned. “They have messed with the wrong swordsman.”

“I won’t disagree with that.” Both Ranulf and Elincia recalled Ettard being Ike’s favorite sword. It was a two-handed sword with a strong, steel blade, which Ike was able to wield with one hand. The sword had been in Ike’s possession ever since before the events leading up to the defeat of Ashera had occurred.

The last bandit before Ike wouldn’t go down as easily as the rest. It was the one who commanded the others on the trail. His outfit was noticeably different and his axe was a steel axe, rather than an iron axe like the other bandits had. Elincia and Ranulf worked together to vanquish him, with Ranulf attacking directly while Elincia backed him up. With Ranulf’s speed, he easily evaded most of the bandit’s attacks. Somehow, however, as Ranulf leaped for a finishing strike, the edge of the sharp axe had scraped his hind leg. It wasn’t extremely serious, but still painful.

“That’ll teach you good for nothin’ rookies teh meddle with matters yer noses don’t belong in!” the bandit exclaimed. Ranulf scrambled back to his feet, getting angry at the bandit’s words.

“Oh yeah, tough guy?” Elincia retorted and dashed into him at quick speed, thrusting her sword into the bandit’s gut. The bandit immediately dropped to his knees and clutched his fatal wound.

“Errg…the boss ain’t gonna like this…” he said and went to the ground dead. The few other bandits whom Ike was dealing with up ahead had seen the event and began to flee. Ike shook his fist at them as they ran in cowardice.

“Hey! I’m not through with you yet!” he shouted, an angry tone showing in his voice.

Ike was about to chase after the bandits when he halted, thinking he was hearing voices behind him. Assuming he was just imagining it, he attempted to carry on, but the voices rang out again. He recognized one of them as Ranulf’s, but the other…the other was too good to be true. Ike just stood there as he made out the second voice, not wanting to believe it was who it sounded like. No…no it can’t be her…can it? Ike thought as he stood there staring off into space. She’s supposed to be in Crimea…she married Geoffrey… As Ike reminded himself of these facts, he couldn’t think anything except that it made no sense. Soon the voices began to get louder and much closer until…

“Ike! Snap out of it!” Ranulf exclaimed. Ike shook his head upon hearing his laguz friend’s words and turned around. Elincia was really and truly there, running straight towards him.

“Ike! Oh, Ike!” Elincia cried, tears of joy forming in her eyes. She collided with Ike’s gut and threw her arms around his neck. Ike returned the hug and almost began to weep himself.

“Elincia…” he replied. “W-what are you doing here? How did you find me? What about Geoffrey?”

“Ike, I feel so awful about the whole thing…” Elincia replied, tears falling down her cheeks. “You must have thought I left you for Geoffrey. But it isn’t true! Those rumors were just rumors!”

“Okay, okay, calm down,” Ike said, continuing to hug her. “I believe you. I didn’t want to believe the rumors either, but you marrying Geoffrey made me so uneasy and unhappy that I couldn’t bear to show my face in Tellius ever again. I feared people would get ideas if they found out it was me you loved while…”

“While I had married Geoffrey…I know, I feared that as well if you returned,” Elincia agreed as the two let go of one another. “But we’re together now and Geoffrey took up the matter with my lord uncle. He had also given me the idea of where you had gone.”

“That’s good. I’m just glad we were able to get back together again after all,” Ike replied with a soft smile.

“Oh, me too!”

With that, the two almost instantly engaged in a romantic embrace. With their lips upon one another’s, the moment seemed to last forever. Ranulf stood there watching while keeping an eye out for anymore bandits. He was glad to have been some aid in reuniting the two lovers who were sharing a kiss right in front of him. Azura would have also been happy if she’d been found as well. Wherever she was, she probably hoped Elincia had found the two already. Ike and Elincia remained embraced for moments on in until Ranulf remembered the camp destruction and Azura’s disappearance and decided to politely cut in to remind his two friends of the important matters.

“Hey guys, I really hate to interrupt this heart-warming reunion, but Ike, what in the world happened to our camp? It’s a disaster!” Ranulf asked with slight annoyance.

“Oh right…that…I apologize, Ranulf,” Ike replied after he and Elincia finished. “I was training when out of nowhere bandits showed up and started ransacking the place.” Ike continued to explain that he wanted to stop them, but before he had a chance, he was knocked out from behind and when he woke up, Ettard was gone. Luckily, the bandits had left a trail of food crumbs and then later, footprints. Ike followed them to the mountain as a result, thinking they stole his sword.

“We figured that explained why we found you unarmed up here,” Ranulf replied. “You’re going to have to find a weapon again soon. You can still wield axes, why didn’t you steal one from them?”

“I’m not a thief, Ranulf,” Ike said with a chuckle. “I suppose it would have been the only choice, though now that you two showed up, I may not have to.”

“Possibly. But Ike, we’d better go find those thieving madmen soon,” Ranulf warned. “They’ve taken Azura hostage.”

“What?!” Ike gasped, the feeling of shock running through his body at blinding speed.

“Yeah, Elincia knows what happened,” Ranulf replied, motioning the former Crimean queen to tell the story. Elincia nodded and began.

“Indeed, I met her on the boat coming here and she was helping me track down Ranulf when those bandits attacked,” she explained. Elincia continued with her stabbing of one of the bandits, Azura telling her to go and continue the search for Ranulf, and then when she and the cat laguz discovered the destroyed camp. The last thing mentioned was the footprints where Azura and Elincia first met the bandits.

“And the impressions in the dirt suggested they kidnapped her?” Ike inquired, making sure he’d heart correctly.

“That’s right,” Ranulf replied.

“Then we have no choice but to take the trail those cowards took. This way,” Ike directed, showing them where the other bandits had escaped. The two followed behind him, all three very curious to what the thieves were doing with Azura.

 

[Jam Stunna]

Just as a suggestion, you may want to hold off on posting any more chapters until you get some interest. It can be daunting to come into a thread for the first time and see massive walls of text.

 

[EmblemPrincess]

That's why I waited a day, Jam Stunna, but if it should be longer, then I'll make it longer. :]

 

[Teh Brettster]

I'd read this, but I ought to play through Radiant Dawn first.
And before I can do that, I need to get my hands on a copy of Radiant Dawn.

 

[EmblemPrincess]

It's alright. It's not like there can't be anyone else who won't read. xP

Chapter 4 is where things will get really interesting, btw. Those who read, hope you enjoy it! ^^

 

[EmblemPrincess]

Well, since there seems to have been no more posts for a good while in here, I'll put up chapter 3.

Chapter 3: Rescue and Ruins​

The trail was rather long and led to another side of the mountain. Ike, Elincia, and Ranulf hurried through the trails and passed by another town. Not having time to pick up any supplies, the threesome simply ignored the little town and went on their way, desperately trying to reach Azura before any serious harm came to her. Ike was also still desperate to retrieve his stolen sword. Rubbing his head while he went, he could feel a bit of a headache coming on from being hit over the head back at the camp, which was the cause of his going unconscious for several minutes. Ike and company soon reached what appeared to be the bandits’ hideaway, a large camp situated in a vast little valley on another side of the mountain. A large tent stood in the very back, most likely serving as the keep of the supreme leader. Ike, Ranulf, and Elincia kept themselves hidden in some rocks nearby and began to formulate a plan.

“There it is…” Ike said in a quiet voice. “I’m sure they’ve got Azura somewhere here. We’ll have to nose around to figure out exactly where.”

“How? Bandits are everywhere and only two of us can fight,” Ranulf pointed out. The laguz was far from incorrect. Wherever they looked, bandits were walking, some wielding axes, and some swords this time. They couldn’t possibly take them all by themselves.

“Hey, don’t think I didn’t learn anything from Soren,” Ike replied with a chuckle, referencing the tactician of the mercenary company he once commanded. “I’ll go—”

“Hey! You there!” a voice shouted from the distance, cutting Ike off. The threesome turned around to see the same knight whom Ranulf and Elincia asked if they’d seen Ike or Azura. He held an axe in his right hand, and accompanying him was another knight, a gray-blue haired woman, who was a lance wielder. They rode upon brown horses and had armor slightly different to that of what Ike and company were used to back in Tellius. The woman accompanying the knight from before wore blue-violet armor and was following the man up another path which headed in the direction of Ike and company.

“Shush! You’re going to give us away!” Ranulf warned. But it was too late.

“Hey! I think we got intruders o’er there!” one bandit shouted from nearby. The knights halted their horses in front of Ike and company.

“I apologize. I didn’t know you were hiding,” the man said. “I’m Marc. Leona and I wish to aid you. You can’t possibly defeat all of these bandits on your own. Your blue-haired friend doesn’t have a weapon either.”

“The bandits stole mine. Now if you two are going to help, then let’s stop the chit-chatting and teach those clowns a lesson!” Ike insisted. Everyone agreed and formed up in front of the bandit camp. Ike took the rear so he could safely sneak by into the main tent and retrieve Ettard, if it was there. Elincia stood by Ranulf in the middle while Marc and Leona took the front. Being knights, they obviously had more experience with Talgrian bandits, so it was the most logical choice. Around fifteen or so bandits had positioned themselves around the area in an attempt to defend it from the group.

With the five of them teamed up, the bandits were not a serious problem. Elincia deducted them as a greater challenge than those she and Azura had met near town, but could not be positive since she was not there long. While paying attention to the weapons triangle, Leona went after those bandits wielding swords, known as Myrmidons while Elincia took the axe wielders, the Fighters. Marc and Ranulf backed them up while Ike safely snuck past. As Leona had plunged her iron lance into another Myrmidon bandit, Ike approached the main tent. He motioned the others to wait outside, signaling that he had a plan. While they fought the remaining bandits off, Ike entered unseen. The leader of the bandit stronghold was standing at a table inside the tent having a conversation with another bandit. Ike recognized him as one of the same ones who had infiltrated his own tent near Galden. He crept behind a crate nearby as quietly as he could and slowly rose up above it to get a look at what was on the table. To little surprise to him, the object of interest was none other than Ettard, its long, steel blade reflecting the sunlight shining through the tent doorway. Ike stayed put and eavesdropped on the conversation between the bandit leader and his cohort.

“Hehe, you men did a mighty fine job stealin’ this if what ya told me about the guy it came from is true,” the leader commended. “It’s fer sure that this blade is one of a kind. It oughta fetch us a pretty penny.”

“Oh it’s true,” the bandit replied. “That guy looked strong. We had ta knock ‘im out cold in order to git away with it.”

“Then it’s best if we be more cautious around characters like him from now on,” the leader concluded. “They’re more likely ta have unique loot such as this!”

“Yeah, I kinda thought we were in trouble once he caught us too, but turns out he was easy,” the bandit replied with a chuckle. At that, Ike grimaced in anger and made a fist with his right hand. Ready to reveal himself, he leaped out from his hiding place.

“Hey, I believe you have something that belongs to me,” Ike said, pointing a finger at them.

“What?! ‘Ow did he follow us here?!” the bandit leader exclaimed.

“You left an easy trail,” Ike replied. “Now if you want to make things easier on yourselves, you’ll hand my sword over.”

“And ‘ow do ya expect ta deal with us without a weapon?” the other bandit asked, as if Ike were stupid.

“Easy. Guys, now!” Ike shouted to the others, who were just outside the tent. Elincia and Ranulf sprung out from underneath the tent while Leona and Marc blocked the entrance. The bandit leader and his cohort simply stood there, turning around to find themselves completely surrounded. Ike soon caught a glimpse of spare axes lying inside one of the crates in the tent and immediately plucked one of the steel ones out.

“And how about that? I’m armed again,” Ike said, still retaining the skills he’d learned about using axes in battle during the war against Ashera. “Now hand my sword over and tell us where Azura is!”

“Not without a fight!” the leader retorted. He took his axe and clashed with Ike’s. Ettard was still on the table, nearly forgotten about over the chaos. However, because there were several people inside the not-so-large tent, it began to fall apart in no time at all due to the chaos. Elincia stabbed the leader’s assistant to death with Amiti, causing the bandit to crash into the tent walls harder than they’d already been hit, finally knocking the entire thing down. Ranulf’s opponent had nearly at the same time found himself plowing into the table Ettard still sat upon, overturning it and causing the sword to slide into a nearby cliff. It lay there unnoticed until Ike saw it, but could not grab it due to the leader struggling against him. Ike was getting frustrated by now and had trouble making sure the sword stayed where it was. However, just as he had driven the bandit leader near the crate of extra axes, Ike found himself getting axes thrown at him like there was no tomorrow.

The bandit leader was almost out of axes after Ike had moved about in every direction to dodge them. The leader tossed the last two when Ike, not realizing it, was standing in front of the cliff Ettard was laying near, and ducked. The axes collided with the rocky cliff wall and a budging noise sounded forth. The axe blade had caused a crack to form in the cliff wall, sending big rocks falling down before anyone knew it. Ike, unable to do anything because he’d jumped out of the way and forgotten his sword was there again, watched as a particularly large rock plunged right down on top of Ettard. It was so big and fell so hard, that the impact was strong enough to snap the blade right in two. Ike pushed the bandit leader aside to the ground and shoved the rock pieces away, only to find his sword in two pieces. He turned around with an angry grimace on his face.

“**** YOU!” Ike shouted with anger. Ranulf and Elincia stood there with frustrated and worried looks.

“Oh boy. Now they’re really in a world of trouble,” Ranulf commented, deciding to stay out of what remained of the situation.

“You can say that again,” Elincia agreed. “Stealing Ike’s favorite sword got him angry enough, but breaking it right in front of him? We’d better stay out of his way.” As Elincia and Ranulf spoke, Ike had grabbed the bandit leader by the shirt collar, grabbed the sharp half of Ettard, and drove it through his gut. Upon looking at Ike and hearing what Elincia said, Marc raised one eyebrow and gave a signal to Leona. Ike was now watching the remaining bandits, whom numbered only a few, run off in cowardice.

“Yeah, you’d better run!” Ike threatened and then turned to face the rest of the group. “Well, now thanks to these idiots, I still have no sword.”

“Sorry that had to happen,” Marc said. “That looked like a unique and powerful weapon.”

“It is. I went to a lot of trouble to get it a couple years ago,” Ike explained as he went and picked up the other half of Ettard. “In fact, it’s the only blade of its kind. I had it forged myself and had to earn so much gold for it.” Ike went on to explain that he had grown tired of using so many steel swords and silver swords that he wanted a special blade to himself. He felt more like he’d be the fighter he had come to be that way and consulted a friend of his, Daniel, who were part of a merchant convoy. He specialized in making weapons. Ike wasn’t sure he could handle the job, but Daniel replied that it shouldn’t be no trouble at all and that it was an honor to do such a task for Ike of all people, but needed the proper funding.

“Wow, sounds like a real back-breaker. Hey, by the way, did she just call you Ike?” Marc asked, motioning towards Elincia.

“I believe so,” Ike replied, not having completely heard what Ranulf and Elincia were saying earlier.

“I knew you looked familiar!” Marc exclaimed. “I’ve been hearing in town lately, mostly around the harbor, about a blue-haired man with a green headband, and red cape who became the hero of a distant land. They called him Ike.”

“That’d be me alright,” Ike confirmed. “I’m shocked at how quickly the word spread from Tellius though. I mean wow…”

“So you’re the legendary Ike?” Leona said. “So what we heard was true. I heard something about you once wielding this great sword…what color did they say it was? Golden? And I thought I heard about it being two-handed, but you could wield it with one.”

“That’s true too,” Ike confirmed. “I kind of miss that sword now, to be honest. I felt more successful with it. It was called Ragnell. It is indeed a golden two-handed sword. Wow, information about me sure travels fast.”

“They said you’re the hugest thing ever in your land!” Leona said. “After people from Tellius started to come here, one of the first stories that were heard from them was all you.” Leona went onto explain that the whole story of Ike saving Crimea from Mad King Ashnard and defeating the goddess Ashera was passed on by tongue quickly enough to spread throughout Talgria within a month and a half. Now the tales had only recently begun to reach the nobles and royalty in the Talgrian capital of Aracion. In addition to the stories, it was also heard that Ike provoked peace between the beorc and laguz nations of Tellius and killed the wolf king when he tried to take over a severely weakened Daein after the war against Ashnard had ended.

“Gosh, Ike, you’re more famous than we thought!” Ranulf added. “But we’ve been here two months…I wonder why people haven’t recognized you.”

“Oh I bet they have, actually,” Marc corrected. “They’re just too shocked to say anything or don’t want to…well, interrupt you in your hero business.” With that, Marc let out a chuckle.

“Well, I have no desire to move up like that again, although what you all have heard is nothing but true. I’m happy being a traveling mercenary,” Ike replied.

“Speaking of mercenaries, it’s said you were the leader of a mercenary company as well,” Leona commented.

“Ah yes…the Greil Mercenaries. My father formed that company,” Ike explained. “I took command of it after he was killed in The Mad King’s War three years ago, but now all of us have moved on pretty much, even my sister.”

“So everything we heard was true…” Marc added. “Amazing.”

“Indeed!” Ranulf agreed. “But back to business now. Did anyone see any sign of Azura?” Ike sighed while everyone else shook their heads.

“Where could they be keeping her…?” Elincia wondered.

“’Tis beyond me. I say we split up and search this whole area,” Ike suggested. “Elincia, you and Leona come with me. Seeing as I’ll be going axe for awhile, having a sword and lance around will prove helpful in case we run into more bandits.”

“Hey, that’s right. Or perhaps you just want the women around?” Ranulf replied in a jokingly manner.

“…Yeah. Get real,” Ike retorted, folding his arms and remembering how some girls used to flirt with him in Tellius.

“Oh come on, I was kidding. That’s a good idea,” Ranulf said, still laughing in his head. However, just when the group was about to split up, they were interrupted by some loud voices coming from somewhere down the trail a bit. It was too far away to make out any words though, so instead of splitting up, Ike and company hurried down the path ahead to investigate. It took little time to reach the entrance to a small cave from which the voices came. One of the two sounded like a female, but before anyone could say anything, the voice rang out again.

“Oh no you don’t!” it exclaimed. “I’m not going to be prisoner to the likes of you idiots!” Ike immediately gasped when he recognized who the female voice belonged to.

“Hey, that was Azura. C’mon!” he said. The group followed Ike inside and when they hadn’t gone very far in, they spotted the red-haired swordswoman giving two bandits a hard time and had apparently broken away from some ropes they had tied her up in. Azura finally broke away from the bandits’ grip and fell to the floor. Ike and Ranulf immediately seized the two and took them out nearly instantly. Azura, wondering what had just happened and quickly scrambled to her feet to notice Ike and the others there.

“Ike! Guys!” she cried with relief. “You came to rescue me?”

“Yeah, what on earth happened with you and those bandits?” Ike inquired, telling Azura he’d heard part of the story from Elincia.

“Oh, not long after Elincia left, another, but stronger bandit appeared and suddenly grabbed me by my arms. Eventually, after I grew tired of struggling, I was dragged off to this cave,” Azura explained. She went on to say that the whole thing had simply been a diversion until that particular bandit had showed up in order to make her capture easier for them. Azura kept trying to break free, but she was not strong enough and had no choice but to let herself be taken to the cave the group now stood in. She was able to break out of the ropes she’d been tied in by struggling to get her sword from the sheath.

“Well, looks like we made good timing then,” Ike replied. “Marc and Leona here unexpectedly aided us. Do you know them?”

“No, but judging by their appearances, they’re knights of Talgria, if I’m not mistaken.”

“That is correct,” Marc confirmed. “I apologize for not letting you know earlier, Ike. We wanted to make sure we didn’t interrupt any of the fighting again.”

“Don’t worry about it. You did what you had to do to help us,” Ike replied.

“That, and the fact that it’s our job to protect the people living in our nation,” Leona reminded Ike with a smile.

“And it seems you do it well,” Ike complimented. “Azura, are there anymore bandits around here?”

“Not that I know of, but I need to show you something. I discovered ruins back here after I escaped,” Azura reported. “Beorc ruins, by the looks of it.”

“Ruins? That’s sure an odd thing to find at the end of a cave. Let’s have a look,” Ike replied. With that, the group made their way through the cave, which was not very long and just barely high enough for Marc and Leona to stay on their horses. The end of the tunnel was only minutes away, and when the group exited, they saw Azura wasn’t kidding. Spread out before them in a fair-sized valley were the ruins of a small town, and right away they could make out some houses and shops. Ranulf walked ahead and examined the closest building, which appeared to have been a small house.

“Yeah, these are beorc ruins alright. We laguz always build greater structures,” he concluded. “But I wonder what beorc lived here.”

“And what happened to them as well as their village,” Ike added. “Let’s take a look around.” With that, the group split up to explore the ruined village, which appeared to have been roughly the same size as the town Ranulf and Elincia had passed through to get up the mountain. There were a number of what had no doubt used to be shops, but the majority of the buildings looked like small houses. A few other homes looked like they’d been larger. For awhile, the group deemed the ruined village as not much to look at or anything of importance or significance. Nothing seemed to be particularly interesting at all and there was no clue to what could have caused the destruction of the village or disappearance of its inhabitants. Ike was about ready to give up when he fixed his attention upon a small plateau that was elevated at least fifty feet higher than the rest of the ruins. It held something not yet seen.

“Hey, come look at this!” Ike called to his companions. “I’ll bet you anything that was once a temple.” As the others approached Ike to see what he found, he pointed to the tall building sitting upon the plateau, which was half destroyed. Still, of what was left, the group could make out two steeples, a large door, and some high walls. Elincia looked closer to verify Ike’s hypothesis.

“So it is. But all temples have a purpose. What was this one used for, I wonder?” she asked.

“Well, all we can do is take a look around up there,” Ike replied. “There’s a path to it over that way built into the side of the cliff. Who knows, maybe we’ll find a clue.” He pointed to the stairway that was carved into the side of the plateau which the front of the temple faced. Marc and Leona dismounted their horses and the group walked carefully up the old staircase, reaching the top within a short time. Once the entire group was on the plateau, they began walking towards the high doorway of the ruined temple. They hadn’t gotten very far, however, when Azura suddenly tripped over a rock stuck in the ground and let out a small yelp. As she’d lost her balance and fell, a gold pendant had dropped from her neck and landed in the rocky terrain.

“Azura, are you alright?” Ike said, coming to help if necessary.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Azura replied, quickly snatching up the pendant. Ike easily noticed it anyway.

“Hey, where did that come from?” Ranulf asked, before Ike could say something about it himself.

“Oh, this is just a memento from my mother. She’s the only family I have left from what I know. We’re both from Galden,” Azura explained, making sure the pendant hadn’t gotten dirty. “I’ve had this pendant with me and around my neck for as long as I can remember.” The gold pendant was in the shape of a strange symbol that Ike and the others had never seen before, but other than that, it looked like a plain gold pendant. When Ike turned around to continue to the temple door, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“Hey, look!” Ike exclaimed, pointing to a spot above the tall door. A large symbol had been inscribed there. The others turned their attention to it, but it was Azura who had the greatest reaction to it. When she looked where Ike was pointing and gasped with the feeling of shock running through her veins, she couldn’t believe the sight she saw before her. For when she held the pendant up next to the view she had to compare, Azura saw that the two symbols were exactly the same.



Thus ends chapter 3. Btw, when Ike yelled at the bandit leader, he screamed d-a-m-n you. xP

 

[El Nino]

Lol @ non-gay Ike.

But since you say you want to become a professional writer someday, I have some quick criticism. I'll just focus on the very beginning.

“Thank you…Ike…” she said. Just then, the two continued to gaze at each other, realizing how close their faces were. Ike, feeling a little nervous, remembered his conversation with Titania back at the mercenary fort and then couldn’t help but smile at the beautiful young queen standing before him.

I knew it, Oscar thought as he sat there. His guess about Ike being in love with Elincia was correct, having seen the opportunity to find out when he saw the two go outside

This is called POV confusion. Considering that this segment is Elincia's flashback, it doesn't make sense to include observations that only Ike and Oscar would know.

If only the rumors going around that Elincia and Geoffrey, the leader of Crimea’s knights, were the ones in love hadn't been so major, they wouldn’t have been "forced" to marry, and Elincia could have stayed with the man she truly loved.

It isn't likely that a queen would enter into a marriage simply to stop rumors. She's royalty; she's probably used to rumors. And, for a queen, a marriage is a serious political move. She has more than ample reason to not marry Ike, a commoner without a last name. However, that doesn't rule out extra-marital affairs, which, as queen, she could probably manage without too much difficulty.

As tears began to fall down Elincia’s cheeks, she thought of how other people she knew had stayed with the ones they loved. King Naesala of the ravens and Princess Leanne of the herons were happy together and had even had two children, a heron girl and a raven boy. Boyd, a member of the same mercenary company Oscar was in and Oscar’s younger brother, had married the sister of Elincia’s lover, and though there was a little bit of an age gap between them, they still were happy. Sothe, a thief from Daein, had married a light sage named Micaiah who was now the queen of Daein and they, too, saw happiness together.

This reads like a summary of post-game events. I don't think the reader needs to read all this. At least, not in expository fashion. You could cut it down, just mention one of the couples instead of all of them. Most appropriate comparison would probably be Micaiah and Sothe. If a queen can marry a thief, why can't a queen marry a mercenary?

“You just leave that to me,” Geoffrey replied with a smile. “I’ll make sure you get out of here. Though, Lucia and I will miss you deeply, we understand.”

That's a little too easy, don't you think? She went through all of PoR just to get the throne back, and now she just wants to take off.

Overall, your writing is highly competent. I think you have skill, but your story concepts could use some work. There are also better ways of showing emotions rather than having characters expressing themselves to each other so blatantly. In real life, there are reasons why people would have to keep their inner feelings to themselves. That doesn't change in a fantasy setting. Inner monologues can also come across as heavy-handed.

My advice to you is to read more (fiction, non-fiction, whatever you find interesting, though fanfiction is something that's more for entertainment value rather than something to learn from) if you really want to become a professional someday. You're off to a promising start though.

 

[EmblemPrincess]

Now I could've sworn I replied to your post... o_O

Oh well, firstly, I don't believe Ike is gay. Never have, never will. x3

Second, thanks, muchly! I'll get right on those mistakes. By the way, I wasn't trying to imply that Elincia and Geoffrey married to simply stop rumors, but I guess I didn't make that clear enough. ^^'

*fixes right away*

EDIT: Oh yeah, Elincia fought to free her country, not to take the throne for herself. She never even wanted to be queen and she stated that herself in RD. I think she'd gladly leave. XD

 

[EmblemPrincess]

Sorry for the long wait. I had to put this off for awhile to do some other writing and I had gone on a short vacation. But here's chapter 4!

Chapter 4: The Quest Begins​

“How…how can this be?” Azura said, the feeling of shock still running through her veins. “I mean…this pendant came from my mother’s family in Galden.” Ike brought his hand to his chin and thought for a minute as his eyes shifted back and forth between the symbol on the temple and Azura’s pendant. Different ideas were coming to his mind, but he wasn’t sure which to consider first. There could be a number of possible explanations for the whole thing, and what to think first was the big question in the mercenary’s brainstorming mind.

“Hmm…Azura, what do you know of your past?” Ike inquired, hoping to gain some evidence supporting any of his theories.

“Well, not a lot, to be honest. Everything I know is from my mother,” Azura began. “I’m her only child. She said my father died in a war years ago and that she gave me the pendant when I was young. She also said it had been passed through her family for generations.” Azura continued on to say that her mother’s family had grown up in Galden and that her father was from another town closer to Aracion, but none that had been in the mountains. Upon hearing the explanation, everybody could see that it did not connect with the symbol finding. Ike decided that there was only one choice to make.

“Strange indeed. Overall, I think something fishy is going on,” he said. “The best thing we can do is go talk to your mother about this. Do you think you could arrange that?”

“Yes, that should be fine. Mother is home most of her time,” Azura replied. “I’d like to talk with her as well anyway.”

“Are you sure? We’ll be strangers to her,” Elincia pointed out.

“I’m positive. Mother won’t mind if she knows I trust all of you,” Azura assured. With that, the group turned around and began to make their way back towards the cave they’d come through. The trip back to Galden was a bit of a long one since everyone had come quite a distance in the first place. At first it seemed like the trip would be a safe one and nothing of any major significance would happen. As the group approached the outskirts of Galden, however, they could immediately sense more trouble. Cries for help began to be heard coming from the streets, and when Ike, Azura, and company started into town, they noticed more ruffians attacking the locals this time. Immediately speeding up their pace, the group headed towards the town square, hoping to find the cause of all this.

“Dear gods, what has become of our fair Galden?” Azura asked when she saw what was happening in the town square. An even larger force of bandits were present there, some with axes, some with swords, and a leader was commanding them to deal with a large group of nearby locals, who were struggling to resist and fight back. Azura and Ike both decided that this was completely outrageous and cruel, and stepped up in defense of the town. Ranulf, Elincia, and the others followed. The local townspeople raised their spirits when they took note of the group’s presence.

“Azura…is this the kind of action you meant you dealt with?” Elincia asked.

“Definitely not. Hey! How dare you attack our town like this!” Azura exclaimed.

“Well, well, if it ain’t little miss Redhead and her sellswords from the mountains,” the boss replied. “Ya may have won up there, but ya definitely ain’t gonna take us out ‘ere!”

“Oh yeah? Why don’t you try saying that to my blade?!” Azura retorted.

“Gosh, it’s like a whole organization of bandits out there,” Marc said in disappointment. “How could all of these people steep so low?”

“Who knows? Whatever it is, these morons want revenge on us,” Ike replied. “But sellswords, eh? Now where have I heard that before?” His sarcastic tone didn’t help Azura.

“Ike, c’mon, this is no time for small talk!” she said. “We need to deal with these fools.”

“Oh, I’m with you all the way. I’m only being shown that these guys are as stupid as the bandits you see in Tellius,” Ike explained. “Everyone, get ready to fight!”

Once the entire group formed up, the bandits turned their attention to their opponents and ignored the mostly fleeing townsfolk. The few locals that hadn’t run decided to stay and watch the battle. Leona stayed close to the front due to her lance having an advantage over the sword users. Elincia’s own sword would be vital for the axe ruffians and stood by the lance knight. The battle began within minutes as the sound of axe, sword, and lance clashed in the fighting. Because of his superior skill, Ike was able to take down his opponents with fair ease, though he could plainly notice that despite them being no more intelligent, they were considerably stronger than any bandits he’d encountered in Tellius.

The battle continued to go on as the group plunged their weapons into bandit after bandit. However, after every other bandit would suffer defeat, more would show up where the previous once were. Over time, Azura, Ike, and company began to sustain injuries, but would never give up. The bandits were not really all tough, surely they could handle it. Still, the reinforcements could be even tougher than their predecessors. Eventually, Ranulf decided to speak up about the situation, now having a few small gashes on himself from a sword.

“It’s like it’ll never end. How much longer do you think we can keep this up?” he asked.

“I don’t know, Ranulf, but we mustn’t give in! We have to fight to the bitter end no matter what!” Azura encouraged.

“Yeah, eventually these guys have to give up and admit they’re no match for us anyway,” Ike added. Still concerned, Ranulf continued to battle in spite of it.

Just minutes later, however, two figures emerged from a street nearby. They did not look like bandits at all, to Azura and Ike’s pleasure. One was a soldier with olive green hair who wielded a steel lance. The other was a light blue-haired young man, an archer to be exact, who was accompanying the soldier. They put annoyed looks on their faces when they saw Azura and Ike’s group battling the numerous bandit enemies. Yet, at the same time, they looked rather satisfied at something as well.

“Ah, finally! The main force!” the soldier exclaimed. “Skye, it’s time we ended this nonsense once and for all. You ready?”

“Right by you, Captain Bryan. Men! Finish these ruffians! Do not harm the other warriors!” the archer added. With that, a small squadron of foot units appeared where the bandit reinforcements normally would have and killed almost all of them. The ones who remained simply stood there in shock and fear. However, the boss remained at his post and the soldier approached him. However, neither of them looked very happy at all. The soldier readied his lance with confidence.

“Ya fool! How dare ya bring my lads to their knees?!” he snapped in anger.

“We’ll bring down even more of them if you don’t surrender immediately,” the soldier replied. “Attacking an entire town for a single person is foolhardy!” But the bandit boss would not give in easily.

“Oh yeah? Never! Not ‘til we get what we want from that redheaded twit!”

“Then you can kiss your rear end good bye, ruffian. I will not let you harm anymore of these people!” With that, the soldier engaged in battle and defeated the boss in a matter of minutes despite the fact that axes had an advantage over lances. And even with that, the soldier did sustain an injury, but had it healed up right away by a healer in the squadron. With the fighting finally over, the soldier, archer, and Ike and Azura’s group gathered in the town square. Ike and Azura hoped to gain some info on the ones who aided them.

“Thank you so much for aiding us,” Azura said. “That was impressive battling. We might have been in big trouble had you and your soldiers not shown up.”

“No problem. It’s part of my job, miss,” the soldier replied with a smile. “Say, aren’t you that red-headed mercenary the bandits have been looking for lately? What’s up with that?”

“What? I-I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Azura stammered.

“Azura, come on now. You just got captured by them a little while ago,” Ike lectured. “I’m curious as to what the story is behind all this myself.”

“Sigh…alright, I suppose you deserve to know,” Azura gave in. “But I can’t tell you out here in public. I don’t want it to be known to anyone else.”

“That’s understandable,” Ike agreed. He turned to the soldier and archer and asked, “Now who are you, exactly?”

“Ah, we never made introductions, did we? I’m Bryan, commander of Talgria’s third platoon of soldiers,” the soldier said. “This here is Skye, my aid.”

“Pleasure, Sir Ike,” the archer said with a smile.

“Now how—oh that’s right. Anyone around here ought to know who I am,” Ike replied with a chuckle.

“Yeah, we figured that’s who we were helping. It’s an honor to meet you,” Bryan explained. “But wait, you have an axe in your hand…I heard you were a master swordsman.”

“Oh, that I am,” Ike assured. Then he explained the incident that occurred on the mountain as well as the details on Azura’s capture. Ike also told the tale of what had happened to his and Ranulf’s camp. The stories baffled Bryan and Skye, yet at the same time they also interested them. A frown formed on Bryan’s face, which indicated to the group that he had a bad feeling about the current situation. Ike asked him if there was something wrong.

“I’m not sure. It’s just that this is such a coincidence,” Bryan replied. He went on to explain that there were problems being tended to up in Aracion that could possibly be related, but they were being kept so secret that not even the Talgrian Royal Knights know exactly what’s going on. All the soldiers know is that a good deal of them were dispatched to go on a search for a red-haired girl wearing a pendant. They had no clue why they’re looking for such a person.

“That’s…is that me?” Azura asked.

“I believe so. Though I wasn’t assigned to such a task, it’s fortunate that we’ve crossed paths anyway.”

“Indeed. We were going to see Azura’s mother about some of these details,” Ike replied. “I have a good feeling the woman will be able to give us important information.”

“Then we must speak with her at once,” Bryan insisted. “These ruins you mentioned have to have something to do with his majesty’s motives.”

With that, Azura led the group to her mother’s house on another road in town. It was a small, quaint place, just like any average home in Galden. Azura advised most of the group to wait outside so her mother won’t feel crowded, sighed with slight nervousness, and opened the door. She looked at her pendant once more, wondering if it could possibly be more than what she thought it was. While Azura was inside, Marc and Leona conversed in their own time as they waited for the next move. Marc sighed with nervousness as well, which got Leona curious.

“This feels so weird. If this is an old woman we’re trying to get information from, I swear I’m going to faint,” he said.

“Oh stop it. Why are you always so antsy around old hags?” Leona asked in annoyance. “It isn’t like they’re going to murder you or anything.”

“I really don’t know. They creep me out for some reason.”

“Ugh. Come on. They’re just women who’ve aged.”

“Yeah, aged to the point where they look like creepy old witches.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. How come old men don’t look like creepy old coots then, huh?”

“Old men? Ha, they’re even weirder.”

“Sigh…Sometimes I think you’re the weird one, Marc…”

Azura came out just moments later and motioned Ike, Ranulf, Elincia, and Bryan to follow her inside the house. The room was nicely furnished and cleaned up, causing the five to be careful not to mess up anything. Paintings hung upon the wall while a small fireplace sat in the living room. A Brave Sword, one of the strongest forgeable weapons in existence, hung over the mantel of the fireplace as a memento while other display objects sat below it. A small couch, chair, rug, and other basic living room furniture furnished the living room in which the five warriors stood. Azura’s mother, a rather middle-aged looking woman with brown hair, walked out of the kitchen to greet them. Just as Ike suspected, she bore no family resemblance to Azura whatsoever.

“So these are your new friends, Azura dear? Pleased to meet you all,” the woman greeted with a smile. “I’m Lorelle, Azura’s mother. What can I do for you fine young warriors?”

“The pleasure is ours. I’m Ike, the hero from Tellius,” Ike replied. “We were hoping you could tell us something about the pendant Azura wears.”

“Oh? Whatever for?”

“We found ruins of an old town in the mountains,” Azura replied. “The symbol that my pendant takes the shape of is carved onto the temple there. Bandits have been looking for me for a long time as well. From what you’ve told me of my past, none of this makes sense.”

“My men and I also think it’s related to a situation currently occurring in Aracion,” Bryan added. Lorelle didn’t reply immediately. Instead she put a shameful look on her face and sighed with grief. Everyone could tell she had a story to share.

“I knew this day would come. Azura…I have a confession to make,” she replied. “I lied to you about your history. I’m…I’m not your real mother.”

“Wh-what?!” Azura gasped.

“It's true. I adopted you. That pendant you wear was never in my family either. I have no idea where it came from, to tell you the truth.”

“I…I can’t believe it.”

“Just as I thought,” Ike replied. “Please, tell us more.”

“I’m interested as well,” Ranulf added. Lorelle agreed and began her story. She explained that not long after her late husband was killed, she found a basket on her doorstep one early morning when the rain was falling hard. Tucked inside was a baby girl who wore a strange, yet beautiful pendant around her neck. Lorelle was about to take the baby inside when the noticed the body of a young red-haired woman lying not more than a foot away from the basket. Assuming she had been the baby’s biological mother, Lorelle took pity and brought the baby inside the house. Once she removed the baby from the soiled basket, she found a parchment note tucked in the blanket. It begged to protect the child, whose name was Azura, and the pendant at all costs, but nothing more.

“So…you suggested I become a mercenary and learn the ways of the sword so I could protect this pendant?” Azura wondered.

“Yes. I do not know more than that,” Lorelle finished. “But you’ve done well to guard it for so long. I only wish I could help you.”

“Oh, but you have, Mother. You’ve helped by raising me and encouraging me to come as far as I have,” Azura replied.

“Really? Thank you…very much, dear.”

“Ahem. I apologize for interrupting this heart-warming conversation, but his majesty will probably like to hear this information,” Bryan interrupted. “I must be going immediately.”

“Hey now, Bry—” Elincia started as Bryan went out the door without a reply. “Ugh, I’m sorry. You’ll have to excuse him, Lorelle.”

“It’s alright. I suppose I deserve it anyway for being such a liar to the closest thing I ever had to a child,” Lorelle replied with sorrow.

“Nonsense, Mother. I can see why you would keep it hidden from me,” Azura protested. “I enjoyed my life with you too much to take secrets like these. I’m glad you lied.”

“…You are?”

“Yes.”

“I’m…touched. Thank you, again.” This time it was Ike’s turn to make an interruption.

“Well, since we’ve heard what we came to hear, we may as well go catch up with Bryan,” he proposed. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Lorelle.”

“Oh you too, Sir Ike,” Lorelle agreed with a smile. “You all take care and be careful out there now!”

“We will.” After his last words, Ike and the rest of the group went back outside to rejoin Marc, Leona, and Skye, who’d stood out in front the entire time. Remembering his broken sword, Ike brought out both halves of Ettard and sighed. He spotted Bryan just several feet away up the road, and with that the group followed him onward to catch up with the third platoon captain. Azura had hopes of him and Skye aiding them some more since they had apparent ties to the king of Talgria. They halted when Bryan finally stopped his own walking. Ike stepped ahead and spoke first.

“Bryan, wait a minute,” he said. “We need to go to Aracion too. Mind if we join you?”

“Not at all. In fact, I was just about to come back and ask you along myself,” Bryan replied with a smile. “And you ought to find a blacksmith to fix that sword.” He frowned upon noticing the two halves of Ettard.

“Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that too. I’d like it re-forged as soon as possible,” Ike agreed. “You know where I can find a smith?”

“As a matter of fact, I happen know a really good one who lives in a town on the way to Aracion,” Bryan delightedly said. “This guy’ll fix that right up in no time. He can even turn it into a top-notch blade for you.”

“Sounds like he’s the real deal.”

“Oh indeed. Now let’s get going. His majesty will want to see Azura as soon as he can. We’ll be your escorts if you don’t know the way.”

“Well, Marc and Leona might, seeing as they’re knights of Talgria,” Ike pointed out. “But we’d be grateful if all of you were our escorts, since bandits will obviously be looking for us right now.”

“That’s correct. We do know the way there and would love to help out,” Marc agreed. “Right, Leona?”

“Of course,” Leona replied. “General Leyon wants us back as soon as possible though, so we need to waste no time. He originally sent Marc and myself to investigate Galden for clues to the bandit organization. That’s one reason we came to help you in the first place. The other reason, well, we saw you were in big trouble.”

“General Leyon? I assume he’s the commander of Talgria’s Royal Knights?” Azura guessed.

“Correct again. We ought to get started if we’re to arrive before daylight tomorrow though. That’s when he expects us,” Marc added, pointing out that it was late afternoon.

“Alright, then we’ll take your advice and leave immediately,” Ike agreed. “If no one else has a problem with it, that is.”

“Nope, ‘tis fine with me and Skye,” Bryan confirmed. “We’re used to having to do that at times anyway.”

“Same here,” Ranulf agreed.

“I don’t mind either,” Elincia added.

“Well, that settles it then,” Ike replied. “Let’s go.” With that, the group made for the paths leading in the direction of Aracion, where Castle Talgria stood high and mighty. However, no one could guarantee that there wouldn’t be any interruptions to slow them down along the way, and stayed prepared for any possible fight to come.