Chapter One

The camp of Greil Mercenaries sat quietly on the border of the Daein empire. They had just broken through another Daein line of troops and had emliminated two more of what seemed like, Daein's infinite number of generals. The group of both beorc and laguz decided to stop and rest, for they would need their strength when they entered the Daein territory. Commander Ike sat in his tent holding a meeting with Oscar and Titania, Rolf and Shinon were off in a filed or blowing wheat shooting arrows at far distant targets. Marcia the young pegasus knight stood in the make shift stables feeding her Pegasus and the other horses.

Throughout the camp all the soldiers of the Greil Mercenaries were off training or preparing for future battles, all but one, a dark haired rouge or assassin you may say, who lounged carefree in a tree. This was Volke, the man hired by Ike's deceased father to aid Ike in his quest, the only thing was he was ever hardly seen by any of the others except for on the battlefield. Plus the guy had to be paid for everything he did that included dining with the others. He was as most would say a unsociable person and a complete mystery, also a little on the distrust side due to him killing people for money.

The assassin sighed as he drew a knife and tossed it into the tree and than reached his hand out to catch a falling apple. He grutned and retrieved his kinfe and began cutting the fruit into bits which he ate slowly. He only ate what he needed to survive so he hardly ate large meals. Volke sighed and tossed the naked apple core away and was about to lay down when he heard a shriek. He glanced from his branch down at a young brown haired girl below rubbing he head as she glanced at the apple core. She than glanced up and spotted Volke and smiled. " Ohh its you, most of us have been wondering where you were," she said.

Volke recognized her at once as Ike's younger sister and the holder of the Fire Emblem medallion, Mist. He sighed and grabbed onto the branch and swung down landing on his feet beside her. " Young Mist, fogive me for not being present to you all, but I like my peaceful lone time," Volke said. Mist smiled and stared up at him.

" Yeah I figured that, but you should really be more sociable, we're all on the same team you know," she said smiling. Volke just gave a small grunt and sat against the tree a few feet from here. He closed his eyes as he felt the cold air blow through his hair and than suddenly he heard humming. It was like a song or lullaby, it was peaceful and calming. He opened his eyes and looked at Mist to see her humming with he eyes closed.

" Nice song," Volke finally spoke. Mist stopped and looked at him giving another one of her innocent smiles.

" Thanks, my mom would sing it to me every night to put me to sleep," she said. Volke looked at her and gave a small smirk, he could understand why she was able to hold the medallion, she was possibly the most innocent carefree girl in the whole Tellius continent. He sighed and thought about himself, he was far from innocent, he could remember how blood stained his dagger would get after every kill he did, that is mostly why he doesn't like to know people, why should you when they might die tommorow.

Mist looked over at Volke and frowned at the look on his face, it was that of despair and she hated those looks, it was like the one everyone had on the night of her father's death. She smiled and hopped up and grabbed Volke's hands and pulled him. Volke was about to speak but was cut off as Mist pulled him and ran towards the dense forest near their camp. " Lady Mist what are you doing," Volke asked as his feet tried to catch up with his sudden departure.

" Come on I want to show you something," she said laughing as the two ran past Rarr and Jill walking their dragons. Volke grunted and turned his head to hide his embarssment as the young girl drug him into the forest. Mist laughed as she drug the bewildered man deep into the forest until they came into a clearing where a single beam of sunlight came through, but what left Volke speechless was the colorful flowers that sat in perfect grace. He looked around as Mist bent down and picked a few flowers. She stood up and hand them to Volke, " Here these should cheer you up," she said.

Volke looked at the flowers and took them in his hands as Mist smiled and walked around looking at the flowers. Volke sat in deep thought as he glanced at the flowers and than Mist, she was the first person who actually wanted to reach out a hand and care for him. He sighed and placed the flowers in a pouch on his belt and than looked at Mist who played happily with some butterflies. Volke sighed and sat on a rock to rest, he closed his eyes and sat thinking when the rattling of armor caught his ears. He looked up and around but could see nothing in the dense forest. " Mist I think we should get going," he said.

" Why...," the girl was about to ask when suddently a arrow flew into a tree near Mist's head. Volke grunted and quickly tossed a knife in the direction of where the arrow came and heard it hit something and than a grunt. He placed Mist behind him and drew his dagger as he glanced into the darkness while Mist stood scared behind him shaking. The two stood there for sometime but than looked wide eyed as soldiers of Daein began to run into view towards them armored with swords and lances. Volke quickly grabbed Mist's hand and ran fast away from the charging into the forest. He ran fast making it hard for Mist to keep up but somehow she did.

Volke's eyes went side to side scanning the forest,' Which way, which way is out,' he thought. Through all the chaos he had forgotten the way back to the camp. He than saw a clearing and ran to it and leaped out of Mist, but quickly stopped himself and caught Mist before she went flying off a high cliff into a pool of water below. The two looked around frantically for the camp but saw not sign and than turned at the sound of coming troops behind them. " What do we do," Mist asked looking at Volke as nervous sweat began to fall from her brow. Volke looked at the forest and than the water below and made the hard decision. He grabbed Mist's hand and she suddenly felt herself pulled as Volke leaped from the cliff pulling her just as the Daein troops appeared.

Mist began to scream so Volke wrapped his arms around her and pushed her head to his chest and turned them making his back hit the water first to reduce the impact on her. " Damn," the soldiers above grunted as they watched the large splash below. " Come on that mercenary camp is near here, we should rejoin the other units in the attack, we need to catch the older brother now, remember the Black Knight wants one of the siblings alive," a soldier said. The others nodded and headed off for the Greil Mercenary camp.

Down below in the water, all of a sudden Volke burst from the water with a splash and breathed as he held Mist in his arms. He grunted and swam over to a waterfall. He went under it and found a small cave," Good a place to rest and hide for the moment," he thought. He pulled himself out of the water and laid Mist down. He than walked away but stopped as he vision blurred and he stumbled and hit the side of the cave keeping him up. He grunted and than coughed into his hand and looked down to see crimsion blood staining his glove.

" The impact of the hit must have hurt me more than I thought," he said chuckling a bit before sliding down the war and giving into darkness.

-

Ike slayed another Daein soldier and turned to impale another one with his sword. He looked around to see the other mercenaries fairing well, but the endless numbers of the Daein army would soon catch up to them. " Soren ordered a retreat, we must hurry and regroup," Ike told his mage tactician.

" Yes commander, but we are missing both your sister and Volke," Soren said as he finished setting a archer on fire. Ike turned to Soren and looked at him.

" What Mist is missing," Ike yelled.

" No worries commander," Harr said atop his dragon as he chopped a soldier down with his axe," I saw her dragging old assassin boy into the woods, knowing him he could hear these soldiers and got young Mist away," Harr finished. Ike looked down for a second as Soren ran to him.

" Whats the order commander?" Soren asked. Ike looked up and sheathed his sword as he got onto his horse.

" Retreat, if Mist is with Volke she'll be well protected," Ike informed. He than kicked his horse making it gallop as hit allies soon followed.

-

Darkness soon began to disappear as light came into view. Volke's eyes slowly opened up seeing nothing but a blurr, but someone was kneeling infront of him. His vision was clear soon and he saw Mist infront of smiling. " Thank the gods your okay, when I woke and found you out I got scared," Mist said smiling. Volke grunted and looked down to see his body was looking a bit better since the fall.

" I was able to heal you up with what Rhys had taught me," Mist said smiling again.

" Thanks," Volke said softly. Mist nodded and stood up walking away. Volke looked at the ground trying to understand what she said, she was scared for him and than she healed him. He looked at her to see her walk behind a large boulder in the cave and suddenly her saw he yellow dress slide off and get placed on the rock. He quickly turned his head as a bit of red showed on his face.

" Mist warn me next time you decide to strip your clothes," Volke said trying to sound not as shocked. Mist's head appeared and she laughed.

" Oh, sorry they were just so wet and I wanted them to dry, you can take yours off and give them to me to dry," Mist said laughing. Volke looked back at her and shook his head no. " Ahhh, is the thief afraid of a young girl like me seeing him in his underwear," she said laughing. Volke grunted as she laughed and went behind the rock to remove her other clothes. Volke than heard her walk back over towards him and than sit. Volke turned his head abit to see her sitting in only her undergarments looking out at the waterfall.

Volke knew it was wrong to eye a girl, especially if she was your leader's sister, but he had to note that Mist had matured a bit since they started their campaign. He noticed her long, slender legs that lead up to her small hourglass form and her small but well rounded...Volke quickly turned his head again and grunted at himself. ' You idiot get it together,' he told himself. Sure he had been with women before but somehow he felt different around Mist. He then remembed the flowers she gave him and looked down at his pocket.

She was actually someone who treated him like a human and not a murderer. Mist looked over at Volke and saw the look of deep thought in his face but than she saw a small smile which made her smile. She than laid back and fell asleep as Volke stayed up to keep watch.

Mist slowly opened her eyes as the new day sunlight shined through the waterfall and onto her. She grunted and rubbed her eyes to see Volke standing at the opening of the cave. She awed at how the sunlight shined around him making him look like an angel straight from heaven. He than turned noticing her awake and glared over her. " Get your clothes on, we should get moving," he said. Mist nodded and quickly slipped her dry clothes on and followed behind Volke out of the cave and around the waterfall. Volke looked around and climbed up a small ledge and than reached back and helped Mist up. The two than walked to the edge to see a small but busy town below.

" We can start there, maybe someone saw Ike and the others," Volke said. He than walked down the hill with Mist at his side. They headed down the dirt path and soon entered the town stopping to watch people run about the streets to merchant stands or shops. They than blended into the crowd, but than Volke felt Mist slip her hand into his. He looked down at her as she looked around worried, he guessed she hated large crowds of strangers. The two walked but stopped as Volke looked up at a sign with a beer mug on it.

" Mist go check the food stand over there for answers, I'll try in here," Volke said. Mist nodded and removed her hand from his and ran across the busy street to the stand. Volke watched her leave and than turned to the bar door and walked in. A small bell chimed making everyone turn to his entrance. He looked around to see the bar full of mainly thugs. He just ignored them and walked towards the bar and sat down.

" What will it be stranger," the bar tender asked.

" I want some information, did a small band of mercenaries come through here last night or by the town," Volke asked.

" Why, are you a mercenary or something," a thug yelled behind Volke. Volke turned to them to see a bunch smirking at a nearby table.

" Thats none of your concern now is it," he answered. The thugs grunted and stood up quickly as Volke sat quietly still. " Cause see we heard there was a band of mercenaries causing trouble for King Ashnard and there is a large bounty on their heads," the thugs said smirking. Volke silently drew a dagger from his pouch out of sight from the men, but suddenly the bell chimed again and Volke saw Mist run into the bar.

" Hey Volke there was no information on the others but I got some apples for our trip," Mist yelled as she ran to Volke but than she hit the thug and fell down with a thud and watched as the apples she carried fell.

" Hey watch it you little bitch," the thug yelled.

" Lets teach her a lesson boss for showing no respect to you," another thug said reaching for Mist. Suddenly a knife appeared at his thoart.

" Do and you die," Volke whispered into the man's ear. He than drew another one and pointed it any others who came near him. " Mist gather your things," he said looking at her. Mist gulped and nodded as she gathered the fallen apples. She was a bit scared by all the thugs but having Volke there calmed her. She stood up as Volke grabbed the guy and pushed him back to his gang. He than back away with Mist and out of the bar closing the door. Volke sighed and placed his knives away and looked down at Mist.

" I'm sorry," she said lowering her head. Volke sighed.

" Its okay, come we should get going before anyone alerts the Daein army," Volke said. Mist nodded and followed him and than smiled when she felt him take her hand as they left the town.

-

" Your joking right, neither of the Greil siblings were caught," King Ashnard yelled. The Black Knight kneeled before him in his dark armor. He than stood and looked up at the Daein King.

" Don't worry my King, I shall go out and capture them and bring you the medallion," the Black Knight said. He than waved his cape as he turned and left the room. He walked the halls of the Daein castle and chuckled inside his armor.

" I think it best to go after the younger sibling, Greil's daughter," he laughed as he disappeared into the darkness of the hall.

To Be Continued...

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