Squee!! 1000 words longer than my previous chapter without the A/N! Who knew:P
Big thanks to all who've reviewed so far... I'd say I loved you, but that would be creepy and web stalker-ish. Yes...
Disclaimer: Don't. Own. It. Like you thought I did... -twitches- Or maybe I do(n't) and I'm just trying to mess with you... o.O
Dusk: Just get on with it!
Me: Shut up. Go back to your tent with Serra.
Dusk: I-I... -stalks off-
"...Ngh..." Legault mumbled, slowly coming awake. Why was he so warm? He was usually cold at night...
He slowly opened his eyes, only to find himself cuddled up against Heath's (bare) muscular chest.
"...Shmuh?" he muttered sleepily, blinking slowly. "...Mm..." He snuggled closer, relishing the warmth he so seldom felt. He was always cold, except in near tropical temperatures.
The thief dozed, not wanting to move, but after a while Heath woke.
"...Huh?" the wyvern lord mumbled, glancing down slightly. "...Hm." He shifted slightly and started to get up when Legault raised his head. Heath froze and a blush slowly stained his cheeks bright red. "Uh, um," he stammered uncomfortably.
"Hey, Heath, there's a meeting at Dusk's tent..." Kent stuck his head in the tent flap, trailing off when he saw the... compromising position he and Legault were in. "...I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" he asked calmly.
"No!" Heath squeaked, which quite amused Legault. "I, uh, th-that is... We'll be right there."
Kent smiled slightly. "All right, see you there." He winked at Legault, who winked back.
"Agh! Stop it!!" Heath exclaimed, blushing all the more. "You'd better not mention this to anyone, especially not Sain!" he added. "Both of you!"
"Of course not. Remember, there's a meeting." Kent disappeared and they heard him walking away.
"Well?" Heath demanded of Legault, who grinned lazily in response. "Tch. Fine." Grumpily, the wyvern lord pulled on his now-dry shirt.
"You look like Christmas, all green and red," Legault drawled mockingly.
"I- Shut up!" snapped Heath as he quickly put on his armour and left, still blushing furiously.
Legault snickered and stretched, once again cold. "Darn..." he muttered, removing Heath's shirt. Slowly, he began to dress, not failing to notice that his clothes had been set out to dry.
Once dressed, he stepped outside...
Into snow. Deep snow, that came up to his knees.
"Argh! Not... snow..." he moaned. "That's worse than rain..."
"Hey! Uncle Legault!" Nino bounced up, smiling brightly at her 'uncle'. Jaffar was one step behind, silent as always.
"...Uncle..." he sighed, shivering. He pulled his cloak closer. "Stop calling me that, Nino..."
"Aw... But... You're like an uncle to me, Uncle Legault," she protested. "Besides, I've got some information you might like!"
"...Yeah? About what?" Legault asked, temporarily putting aside his dislike of her title for him in the face of possible gain.
"Well, you know Heath, right?" Nino asked innocently.
"...Yes, go on."
"So, I was talking to him yesterday before the battle, and he told me that he was lonely," Nino explained.
"...I thought you told me he said he was often alone with his wyvern?" Jaffar remarked, shifting a little in the snow.
"Oh, yeah, but he basically said he was lonely," Nino replied, shrugging. "C'mon, we're gonna be late for the meeting, you two!" And she bounded away, spraying them both with snow.
"..." Jaffar followed immediately, pausing only to shake off the snow.
"Hm..." Legault mumbled, brushing off the snow as he followed more slowly.
Heath tried to keep from flushing as Kent kept casting glances at him from his position beside Sain.
"All right, is everyone here?" Dusk emerged from his tent with Hector and... Serra.
"Omigod, Nino, I loved your cloak!" squealed Serra. Everyone looked at Nino, who was wearing a dark blue cloak with a fur-lined hood. Legault and Jaffar were standing behind her.
"...Um, thanks!" Nino replied, looking slightly confused.
"...Serra," Dusk said warningly.
"Oops, sorry," Serra giggled.
"...Anyway, seeing as we're snowed in, I suppose you lot can take a break until it melts enough for us continue... Even though you don't deserve it..." grumbled Dusk, acting like a child who'd been told to stop whining. "So... Yes, do whatever you want for the next couple of days... But you have to... hunt, I suppose, for your food, because we're trying to conserve our supplies, since a lot were lost," he added when people started to cheer. "And... that's all. Have... fun. I guess." He seemed really awkward for some reason.
"Yay!" Nino exclaimed gleefully, and she ran off.
"..." Jaffar followed, only to be hit with a snowball. He blinked several times, looking shocked, during which time he was pelt with three more. Nino grinned innocently and ran between some tents as he ran after her.
Suddenly snowballs were flying everywhere, hitting everyone except Dusk and Serra, who'd disappeared into his tent. Heath wondered what they were doing when some shoved snow down his back. He turned angrily and saw a stricken-looking Kent.
"I-it was Sain!" he protested as Heath dumped him head first into a snow drift.
"Grr... Sain..." Heath muttered, helping him back out. The green-haired paladin was no where in sight.
"I believe we should get him back... But first, it might be wise to lose the armour," Kent suggested. "It's not really any help in a snowball fight, and I seriously doubt anyone's going to attack us."
"True... Let's meet back here," Heath added, ducking a snowball pelted at him by a smirking Matthew.
"All right," Kent agreed and they hurried off to their respective tents.
Heath slipped inside the tent, hoping Legault wouldn't be there. Besides, it wasn't like he'd been the one to... to... Elimine, he couldn't even think the word! But Legault had started it, not him. That thief was... strange. He had seemed different yesterday evening, and Heath still wasn't sure how he should react.
He scowled and quickly took off his armour, placing it beside the entrance with a care he seldom showed before cautiously going back out.
As he had expected, the moment he stuck his head out the tent flap, a barrage of snowballs flew towards him. He quickly ducked back in as multiple people giggled and snickered.
Heath glanced around, but the only way out was the tent flap. With a resigned sigh, he burst through it as quickly as he could, getting hit by at least four of the cold projectiles before he even oriented himself. He grabbed a handful of snow and lobbed it at the nearest person – Karel.
Oops.
The strange sword master went ballistic and started chasing Heath around, wildly brandishing his sword until Heath managed to climb a tree to escape.
Karel walked under the tree, but Heath managed to conceal himself as best as possible, and the swordsman didn't see him.
"Who're you hiding from?" asked a good-natured voice from somewhere above him.
Heath glanced up and found the army's other thief, Matthew, staring down at him.
"Oh... Karel, actually," Heath replied, glancing back down.
"Ah... That's quite bad, then," Matthew muttered.
"Huh? Why's that?" the wyvern lord demanded, glancing back up.
"...Well, you know Guy, right? He's, um, chasing me too, and he and Karel... are kind of friends, if you can be friends with Karel, so if they team up..."
"Bad news..." Heath finished, chewing on his lip thoughtfully.
"Heh. That may be an understatement..."
They sat in silence, listening to the shrieks and yells of the other people as they ran about outside.
"Oh no! I forgot about Kent!" Heath exclaimed. "We were going to meet in front of Dusk's tent..." He sighed.
"Kent? You mean the red-armoured paladin with Lady Lyndis? I heard him a couple of minutes before I climbed up here, and I don't think he'll be missing you," Matthew told him.
"Huh? Heard him? What do you mean?" Heath asked, shifting into a more comfortable position.
"Well, I was strolling – well, running actually – past his tent and I heard the oddest sounds, so I took a peek... And he and Sain seemed quite enthralled with each other. So don't worry," the sandy-haired thief explained, grinning.
"...You're joking," Heath said faintly.
Matthew dropped down to the branch beside his. "Nope. Wanna see?"
"No!" Heath said firmly.
"Oh. Well, whatever. I guess I should get down, move to another hiding spot before guy finds me." With those words, Matthew sprang down, landing lightly in a crouch. He gave Heath a quick wave and ran off.
"...Hm, I should probably do that..." Heath mumbled. "Although he might be waiting for me to do just that... Wait, what am I worrying about?! I'm a wyvern lord, so if I can just reach Hyperion, I'll be fine!"
This thought firmly in his head, the former knight of Bern climbed down, cautiously checking for Karel, but he was nowhere in sight. Emboldened, Heath slipped off the last branch to the ground...
And was hit, in the head, not once, not twice, but three times by Bartre, Dart and Rebecca, who quickly ran away upon seeing his expression when the snow dripped off.
"Normal... archer... number three..." Rath laughed as he ran by, chased by Wil, who stumbled every few seconds as he scooped up another handful of snow with which to attack the fleeing Sacaen nomad.
"There you are..." said Karel, stepping out from behind a tree.
"...Look, Karel, I'm sorry, all right? I just threw the snowball at the first person I saw. You understand, right? You, um-" Heath faltered as Karel stalked forward, Wo Dao clutched in one hand, "-you do it all the time, you know? When you're killing. But I'm an ally, so, um-- Eep!" He actually let out a startled shriek when Karel suddenly pitched forward into the snow.
"Karel? Kaaaarrellll!?" someone called. Lucius the monk appeared. "Oh, Heath, have you seen Karel?" the rather feminine man asked.
"Um, he's right here," Heath said, pointing to the now-snoring Karel lying in the snow before him.
Lucius sighed, "Not again! Could I bother you to help me carry him back to our tent?"
"...Sure, why not. Could you tell him I didn't mean to hit him with a snowball though? I just threw it at the first person I saw..." Heath knelt beside the sword master and picked him up bridal-style.
"Oh, you're not the first... He practically hacked off Erk's arm, poor man... All right, I will." Lucius led him back through the rows of tents until they came to the one he was sharing with Karel.
"Put him on the bedroll, please," requested Lucius, holding the tent flap for him.
As gently as he could, Heath laid the raven-haired man on the bedroll. Lucius sat beside Karel, stroking his forehead and bangs. "What am I going to do with you...?" he mumbled. "You're worse then Lord Raymond..."
Heath felt uncomfortable, like he was seeing something he shouldn't, wasn't worthy to see. "I'll take my leave then, Lucius," he said, rising to exit.
"Say hi to Legault for me," the monk replied.
The wyvern lord froze and turned back to see whether the monk was mocking him or not, but saw that Karel's head was no in Lucius' lap, and the monk was humming softly, eyes closed, so Heath just left.
Outside was as it had been. Hector was giving Eliwood a face wash while Lyn and Florina watched, giggling.
Legault skidded by and grabbed Heath's arm. "Hide me!" he hissed frantically, looking around nervously.
"Why? From whom? he demanded, wondering why the usually cool thief was so wound up.
"Jaffar," Legault muttered, ducking behind him.
"Eh? Really? What'd you do?" Heath inquired. "Throw a snowball at him?"
"Well... yeah. Apparently only Nino is permitted the right to actually hit him."
"Funny, almost exactly the same thing happened to me, except Karel fell asleep before he could kill me and Lucius came along and asked me to carry him back to their tent. Oh, he says hi, by the way," Heath added.
"...Yeah? No kiddi-- Argh!"
Heath turned in time to see Jaffar tackle Legault to the ground.
"Uncle Legaaauuult! Jafaaaar!!" Nino called from several tents away. She spotted Heath and walked over.
"Hi! Have you seen Uncle Legault or Jaffar? You're Uncle's friend, right?" she asked, glancing around but somehow failing to notice the two former Black Fangs. Jaffar had Legault pinned and a hand over his mouth to silence him.
Legault was desperately signalling the wyvern lord with his eyes, so Heath said, "'Uncle'? Why Uncle? He's not that old, is he?"
Legault's eyes bugged out indignantly and he started thrashing wildly, trying to attract Nino's attention.
"Oh, no, I think he's only about twenty... er... twenty... Well, twenty nine, I think, but even though he's around the same age as my brothers, he's a lot more mature," explained Nino matter-of-factly. "So, you're sure you haven't seen them?"
"Yeah, they're right there, playing in the snow." Heath pointed to a couple of feet away from them.
"Oh! Uncle Legault, Jaffar, there you are! Stop suffocating him, Jaffar, it was just a little snowball. I hit you with way more, and they were way bigger."
"..." Jaffar got up and brushed himself off. "Hurricane is different," he explained calmly.
Legault got up too, shivering slightly. He was grumbling under his breath about an angel or something. Heath wondered if he'd hit his head on a block of ice or something. "Besides," he said more loudly, "I'm only twenty seven, not twenty nine!"
Jaffar cast him an evil glare, but the effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that his stomach growled an instant later.
Nino giggled. "I guess we'll have to hunt for a rabbit or something," she said.
"...I will," Jaffar said and walked off, ever one for eloquent words.
"Thanks for the help!" snapped Legault once he was out of earshot.
Heath shrugged. "Any time," he said mildly. "If you like, I could catch something with Hyperion for us to eat... But you'd have to cook. I'm terrible at it myself."
"...Sure. Why not? I'm going to try and build a fire to warm up," Legault muttered, stomping off. At one point, he fell through the snow bank, sinking about two feet. He walked normally for the rest of the way.
Heath shook his head and followed to get Hyperion.
The wyvern was sleeping under a deep blanket of snow, but it raised its head eagerly when its rider walked up.
"We're going hunting, Hyperion," Heath told it, brushing snow off of its wing membrane stuff.
"Why are you talking to it? It can't understand you anyway," Legault asked sulkily.
"...When I first left Bern, I was... I got sort of lonely, so I talked to Hyperion... Now that I say it out loud, it sounds pretty, well, pathetic..." he trailed off awkwardly.
"No, not at all. I understand the sentiment," Legault muttered, sounding embarrassed.
"So yeah. I guess I'd better get on with that hunting then," Heath said, shaking the less than good memories from his head. He grabbed his javelin and mounted Hyperion, who immediately rose into the air.
"Bye now! I hope you know you're taking my heart with you, you scoundrel!" Legault called after him in a disturbingly falsetto voice, waving a handkerchief he'd managed to procure from somewhere.
Heath choked and nearly fell out of his saddle.
"Hahaha! I'm joking!!" laughed Legault, disappearing into their tent.
"...He's strange," Heath mumbled to Hyperion as they flew over the snow-covered landscape. The cold, white stuff blanketed the plains they had been forced to cross to meet the mountains, hiding the broken bodies of the dead beneath a cover of shimmering white.
Heath shielded his eyes against the glare of the late morning sun off the snow, studying the area ahead intently. He couldn't remember the last time he'd just flown Hyperion not out of necessity, but just for the sensation of the wind in his face, blowing through his hair, yet it seemed it seemed cooler somehow...
They wyvern lord realised he's forgotten to put on his armour, but at the same time he highly doubted he'd be attacked; the deep snow rendered mobility nigh on impossible except for airborne units such as himself, and he'd be able to see them long before they reached him.
In the distance he spotted a herd of deer grazing serenely. With a grin, he pulled Hyperion higher into the air and they moved in for the kill...
Nergal scowled at the clouded crystal ball sitting on a pedestal before him. Damn that Athos! What sort of spell had his traitorous best friend employed this time...? He couldn't see anything at all of that Eliwood twerp and his band of mercenaries and friends, but there was no possible way his spell could have failed!
The dark druid's scowl deepened as a loud scream brought him from his thoughts.
"Limstella!" the turban-wearing man called, rubbing a hand over his right eye.
"Yes, Master?" the morph asked mildly, walking into the room that held the Dragon's Gate. It was here he had set up his base, and the throne he would use to rule this world sat regally before the huge gates.
"Has he said anything of note? Anything at all, my pet?"
The golden-eyed sage shook her head. "Nothing, Master. You should just steal his quintessence and be done with him."
"Surely you jest! He's an old friend, and besides, I know how you love playing with men such as he," Nergal replied easily.
"Yes... that is true, Master," she agreed, bowing. "By your leave, I'll return to that useless archsage now, shall I?"
Nergal nodded and returned to glaring into his still-clouded scrying ball as another loud scream split the air.
From the shadows cast by the huge Dragon's Gate, golden and silver eyes watched the proceedings carefully, then disappeared... ((...Do I... maybe... sense a plot? omigoodness. What is the world coming to? xDD))
As Heath triumphantly returned to their camp, deer tied securely onto Hyperion's back, he noticed Jaffar sneaking up on an oblivious rabbit, knife in hand.
Heath held his breath, awed in spite of himself as he watched the assassin stalk stealthily forward. He probably would have gotten it too, if, at the exact moment he'd been about to strike, a snowball hadn't been pelted right into the back of his head.
The rabbit ran off as Jaffar slowly turned to face the culprit – Legault. Either the lavender-haired thief learned very, very slowly, or his sense of self-preservation was sorely lacking.
Heath suspected the former, as Legault bolted immediately, Jaffar hot on his heels.
They wyvern lord chuckled under his breath and urged Hyperion to continue on back to the tent.
Nino was sitting outside, poking a fire with one of Heath's lances.
"Hey! What're you doing?!" exclaimed Heath once he'd landed.
"Oh! Yeah, sorry, I couldn't find any branches! ...I used the most beat up lance you had..." Nino added.
"...But you're surrounded by trees," he pointed out, rubbing a hand over his eyes with a sigh.
"Huh? Oh, I guess you're right. Sorry!" She giggled and handed him the now-useless weapon before she ran to get a branch.
"...What did she use for fuel then?" he muttered, dropping it into the snow. He grunted as he lifted the deer carcass up. "What're you doing here anyway, Nino?"
"Waiting for Uncle Legault and Jaffar," she explained, returning with a vicious-looking branch. "How this one, by the way?" she asked, waving it in his face.
"...Right. OK. But I think it'll be a while before they come back, Nino," Heath muttered, kneeling to begin skinning the beast.
"...I'm back," Jaffar announced quietly, appearing out of the trees.
"Where's Legault?" the wyvern lord asked, raising an eyebrow.
"..." Jaffar didn't answer. "I will skin and cook it since you did the hunting," he offered.
"Oh, all right," Heath agreed. He generally tried to avoid those jobs anyway. "I'll go look for Legault while you're doing that," he added.
"OK! Come back as soon as you find him, Heath. Try to find him before sundown!" Nino said.
Heath nodded. "Don't let anyone else have any of that."
"...I won't," Jaffar said, and the wyvern lord walked off, leaving their lunch and dinner in the assassin's capable hands.
Legault shivered as a brisk breeze blew through the trees, ruffling his hair and clothes. With his luck, it would start snowing at any moment.
The thief sighed, reflecting on the events that had led him to his current, less than wonderful predicament.
Legault was calmly sitting before the fire he'd built, warm for once, when Matthew had walked up.
The two thieves had little to do with each other, but they weren't enemies or anything like that.
"Hey," said Matthew, dropping down to sit beside him. "Fancy a little wager?"
"...Well, I'm not much of a gambler," replied Legault, absently doodling in the snow with one finger. "What for?"
"If you ambush Jaffar with a snowball and return to tell the tale by sundown... I'll help you with Heath," the sandy-haired thief said.
"And why would I need any help with Heath?" Legault asked mildly, not stopping his doodling.
"You tell me, Legault," Matthew replied with a smirk, pointing at his absently-written doodle.
"Eh...?" Legault looked down at the doodle, shocked at what he saw. "Wha... Huh?!"
Matthew snickered. "Hm. Your lettering is quite masterful. Perhaps your true calling is actually the life of a scribe...?"
The lavender-haired thief didn't even hear, so shocked was he.
"Hey, Uncle Legault-- Oh, wow! Letters! I wonder if I can read them, Uncle Canas has been teaching me a lot..." She knelt down and examined the word Legault had written in the snow.
"Hm... I'm not used to such curly and fancy letters... It says... Um... He- Hear? No, um... Hea-something. Heaf? Heaph? Hea... Heath! It says Heath! Wow, Matthew, I didn't know you liked him," Nino giggled.
Matthew snorted. "I don't!"
"Huh? Then why's it in a heart... Oh." Nino eyes widened as the realisation struck. "Uncle Legault..."
"Sh!" Legault hissed, recovering finally. "Don't... Don't say a word!" he growled, quickly dashing the snow away.
"Ugh, you're so stubborn. How odd. C'mon, Nino, back me up here! I've offered to help him if he manages to attack Jaffar with a snowball and returns to tell me by sundown," Matthew explained, smirking again.
"But he already did that," Nino said.
"Oh. well, then the odds of him succeeding are even higher! Ready, my good thief?" He pulled Legault to his feet and clapped him on the shoulder.
"Yeah, I'll help too! Now all that time you spent with Linus makes sense..." Nino muttered.
"...Nino!" Legault snapped.
"Oops!" She giggled. "Sorry! You'd better hurry, there's no telling what you'll have to do to avoid Jaffar, so you'd better go now, even if it's only like 1 o'clock!"
Legault scowled. "Where's your tent anyway, Matthew?"
"Hm? Oh, it's over by Dusk's tent, but Rath and Wil's is right beside mine, so don't go in there," Matthew added.
"Really? Why?" asked clueless Nino.
"Well, they do interesting things beside string bows and fletch arrows in there," Matthew replied, winking.
"All right, all right, whatever. I'm going now," Legault grumbled, walking off. "Keep the fire going, Nino!" he added over his shoulder. Matthew was already gone.
"C-c-cold! Damn you, Matthew!" growled Legault, swaying slightly in the breeze. All the blood was rushing to his head and his ears were roaring, but thank Elimine he wasn't afraid of heights, or he'd probably be in an even worse situation... Not that hanging upside down about fifteen feet up, bound tightly and held in place by a (loosely) tied rope around his feet was exactly excellent either, but thieves couldn't be choosers when it came to ticked-off assassins.
He sighed, shivering more. He hoped someone would come by and see him, hopefully someone with the means to untie him and help him down.
"Argh... Why did I even agree to this?! I'm a (former) Black Fang! I don't need the help of some... some... Ostian spy!" Legault grumbled to himself, shaking his head a little. He hoped he wouldn't pass out. "It's not like I even like that wyvern rider anyway! He's just fun to annoy, and it would be useful to have him around... And he's warm... Argh!! Stop! I do not like--" He broke off as Heath spontaneously walked through the trees.
"Hey, Heath," he said gratefully.
"Looks like you're still alive," Heath responded.
"Can't complain," Legault agreed.
Heath remained silent, looking pensive for several moments. Legault hoped Matthew or Nino hadn't said anything to him.
"Legault, what is it that you want from me?" Heath asked finally.
"Hmm..." Legault muttered. "One reason is self-interest. Whether I'm working in this army or I'm dodging Black Fang pursuers, it makes sense to have a wyvern rider close at hand. Few soldiers can match your ferocity on the field. Of course, it does complicate matters that you are being pursued," he added.
"I imagine so. I'm being hunted by my homeland. There's a price on my head. Being close to me isn't like lying on a bed or roses," Heath agreed.
"The same is true of me as well. Many of the Black Fang would see me dead if they could," he said, not without bitterness. "Look, why don't we help each other out? Lend a hand dealing with our respective foes?"
Heath bit his lip and Legault had to resist the urge to make fun of him for it.
"My enemy is the strongest army division on the continent. No matter how you look at it, I'd say you're getting the short end of the stick. Why would you agree to do all that for me?" he asked.
Legault answered without thinking. "Hm? Must be this thing called 'love', you know?"
He panicked when Heath, looking shocked, started to turn away. "Where are you going! I'm joking!! Get back here."
"..." Heath studied the upside down thief warily.
Legault sighed. "Just let it go, all right? Come on, I like you," he said. "Even on the run, you're true to your principles," he added hastily as the wyvern lord turned to leave again. "You're recklessly honest. That's from someone who simply cannot do that..."
"..." Heath still made no reply.
"Friendship between fugitives... What do you say?" the thief prodded.
"You're one weird guy..." Heath muttered, turning to leave again.
"No!! Wait! At least get me down from here first!" protested Legault desperately.
A/N: Yeah! Another chapter, done! I'm so proud... -sniffles and dabs at her eyes-
So, what'd you think of the random attempt at a plot I managed to sneak in there? xD
Again, comments, concerns, suggestions? The review button is mere inches below these words, dear readers.