Author's Notes

This story basically takes place post-FE6, with the exception of the first two chapters and part of chapter three. So if you haven't played through FE6 yet, you may not want to continue reading this until you finish it with the best ending. But come back eventually! (please? :p)

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Oh yeah, important information about the update schedule is located in the author's notes at the end of the chapter.

A Glimmer of Hope

Chapter 1: Deserving of Life

Striking down my foe, the last of the true dragons from the Scouring, I watch in sadness as the powerful antagonist plummets to the ground, barely breathing. Immediately running to his side, my opponent, Yahn, gives me a confused look as I call over a couple of my strongest troops; Gonzales, Dieck, and Echidna.

"Why... are you not... striking the final blow?" Yahn asks, wincing in severe pain. "You should not... keep your enemy... alive..."

"Because you don't deserve to die, despite the horrible things you did. You'll understand later. Guys, place him down on the throne. It's the fastest way he can recover."

"But Roy," Dieck interrupts, "this guy tried to kill us. He definitely deserves to die. Why are you..."

Suddenly, without warning, Gonzales lifts up Yahn without effort of any sort and places him down gently onto his throne, and I can already see Yahn beginning to recover his strength by absorbing the power of the Dragon Temple into his nearly limp body.

"He confused... like me used to be."

"You know, Dieck, the big guy has a point," Echidna says. "Let's just listen to Roy for now. He knows what he's doing. At least Gonzo already did the work for us."

She confidently goes to meet the rest of the troops, Gonzales following closely behind, and Dieck just shakes his head. "Hmph. That woman, she's... strong willed."

As Dieck runs to catch up with Echidna and Gonzales, I glance one last time at Yahn before meeting the army to plan the final attack.

Yahn, watching the entire scene, scowls in frustration as my army enters the deepest part of the temple, but as I prepare to join them, a young girl from the back, Fa, pulls me aside before leaning into my chest to cry. Yahn thinks he hears the term 'Divine Dragon' as I comfort the small girl, and when she stops crying, the two of us walk hand-in-hand into the next room with the others.

"That boy... he is a fool. I will never understand... humans. If he could not kill me..."

At the very center of the Dragon Temple, we prepare ourselves to battle the Dark Dragon, the most powerful of them all. A dragon said to be of enormous proportions with the power to create War Dragons and other creatures at will, it is sure to be a battle that we will never forget.

And yet... all we find is a young woman alone, her cloak covering her eyes so that none can truly identify her. I slowly walk up to her, placing my Sword of Seals in my scabbard as a sign of peace.

"Dark Dragon..." I begin, kneeling, "please, you have no reason to fight us..."

"Someone told me the same thing a long time ago, I believe. But now that I have been awakened... I know what I must do."

As the woman turns around to face the temple wall, I clench my teeth in frustration; I want so badly to save this girl... but if she can't listen to reason, what can I do? Deciding to try a different tactic, I walk up to her and put my hand onto her shoulder, prompting her to face me. When the two of us are eye-to-eye, I pull her hood down, and gasp.

She is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.

I know you used to be a Divine Dragon, so it's expected that you would be gorgeous, but not to this extent...

I examine her face thoroughly, and I notice that she has heterochromia; her right eye is a bright green while her left eye is a mysterious combination of purple and pink, almost the same colour as Fa's hair. However, a strange purple aura surrounds the whites of her eyes, almost as if she's possessed. As well, her violet hair shimmers in the light of the torch-lit room, further adding to her seemingly divine appearance.

"Idoun... that was your name, correct? Please, look into my eyes," I say, placing my hands onto both of her shoulders. "If you see any trace of deceit in my eyes, we'll battle. But please, you must believe me! I don't want us to fight!"

Idoun watches me closely, and for a second, it actually looks like she's giving consideration to what I'm saying. However, after a minute, she steps back, pulls out a dark purple dragonstone, and holds it up to her face, causing the temple to shake and her cloak to billow everywhere.

Enclosing her hand around the stone, she says, "Nothing you say will make me change my actions. I have been commanded... and now, I shall fulfill those commands."

A purple aura surrounds itself around Idoun now, and as it builds itself around her, she begins to grow in size until she morphs into her true form: the Dark Dragon. A colossal creature that terrifies even the bravest of men who see her, this is what the army is afraid of; battling her.

"Everyone! Stand back!" I shout, pulling out the Sword of Seals. "I... I have to do this myself."

Shouting a war cry, I begin to swing wildly in a circle, and a wall of flame encompasses me. After charging up an enormous amount of energy, I transfer the energy into a giant flaming ball before smashing it towards Idoun at tremendous speed.

Don't let this kill her...

The magical blast reaches its target, trapping Idoun into a vortex of fire. As she cries out in pain, I hold my hand to my face so I don't have to witness the horrible sight. Finally, when the flame subsides, Idoun changes back into her human form, and she lays on the ground, motionless.

"I... I... Gah... I... alone... Dark... Alone... in... darkness..."

I quickly run to Idoun's side, lifting her into my arms. As her consciousness falters, I notice that the purple aura in Idoun's eyes is completely gone, and there is only one emotion written across her face...

Fear.

"Idoun... I promise I will do everything in my power to turn you back into your former self," I say reassuringly, drawing her closer to me. "Please... just let me help you..."

Before Idoun falls into the deep slumber of unconsciousness, the last thing I see in her eyes is a sort of calming, comforting peace, almost as if she understands my words.

It's a glimmer of hope for me... hope, that it just might be possible Idoun can be saved.

"Did everybody get out in time?"

I scan the ruins of the Dragon Temple; after my climatic battle with Idoun, massive amounts of energy were released into the atmosphere, and the temple just couldn't take it. As a result, it crumbled into the ground, almost taking my army and me with it. Thankfully, we were fast enough to escape before we were buried alive in the rubble.

"Everyone seems to be accounted for, Roy!" Echidna informs, double-checking her master list of units. Echidna's experience as a formal rebel leader makes her the obvious choice for attendance keeper, because before she enlisted with us, keeping track of her troops was something she was always doing. "I can't believe it. We won! We really won!"

The crowd bursts into a great cheer, happy that their efforts were not for naught, and that the world is safe.

"Oh yes, we even got Yahn out of there. Isn't that right, Gonzo?"

"Yes, me save him!" Gonzales replies, holding Yahn on his shoulders. Yahn just shrugs when his name is mentioned. "You know," Yahn says, "I still think... you are a fool... for saving me. You will regret this..."

I just shake my head at the ignorant comment. "Whatever the outcome, I still don't believe you should have died. Gonzales, leave him here. It's probably the place where he can recover the fastest. Even though the temple is gone, some energy still remains in the area. Alright group! Let's go back to Bern!"

Leaving Yahn behind at the temple ruins, we leave the premise, but before we get out of sight, Yahn calls out to us, "You still... have Idoun with you? You... kept her alive, as well? Fools... you can never... restore her soul..."

"You're one of the fiends who destroyed it in the first place!" I call back, stopping in place. "She did nothing wrong; she deserves a second chance. I want to help her..."

Gently carrying Idoun in my arms, I run ahead to catch up to the rest of the army.

"Humans... I will... never understand..."

Author's Notes

I've been writing crap lately, so I'm trying really hard to make this my best submission ever. I hope you notice an improvement.

This is a romance fic starring Roy and Idoun! (If I tried to pair someone with Fa, I'd call myself the sickest pervert on Earth... hey, Tom-Ato13, what's with the skeptical look?) Obviously, some parts of the story are changed, and the rest will be brand new. I had to look up heterochromia, in case you're curious for no reason. Oh, and congrats to Panda Master for guessing the secret couple on his second try!

I've wanted to write this story ever since I joined the site, but I never had the opportunity to start it until now. There's a special detail that makes it really unique and appealing for me to try, but I'll reveal that later. Enjoy guys! Don't be afraid to speak up about things; opinions, confusion, speculating, happy things, and all that.

AH YES! The update schedule. Well, this is the first time I've started submitting my story before it was finished. In reality, it is not even close to done; I have about four chapters done by now, and I have no idea how long it will end up. I plan to update on a (hopefully) weekly basis until I don't have a completed chapter to submit; after that, I'll just update whenever possible.

The reason I'm starting the submission process so early is 100% paranoia; I want to get my foot in the door before someone else thinks of the idea and submits it. Yep. That's it. Pretty lame excuse if you ask me, but whatever.