Fire Emblem: Three Hopes

Azure Wolves

Chapter 1: Lost and Adrift

Fodlan was a continent which had a terse peace forced upon itself. Three nations, each rivaling the strength of the other in various ways, were always prepared for the worst to happen. In between them all, a religious sect known as the Church of Seiros directed the peace between them from their Monastery, which doubled as an Officer's Academy for the various nations. For almost a thousand years the stagnant, forced peace ensured that no one would be superior to the other without consequence for the one that tried to grow too big for their britches.

Though in doing so, this only allowed the nations to find strength in other forms, the most prolific of which was mercenary work. Fighting for coin and glory, there would always be those that could be bought to fight for something that the Adrestian Empire, Holy Kingdom of Faerghus or the Leicester Alliance did not want out in the open. It also opened up those same mercenary corps to turn on one another in order to obtain further fame and glory.

In one world, such a clash would lead to the ruin of a certain mercenary company, in which everyone was put to the sword with no exceptions.

In another, a sole survivor would come out of it, seeking revenge in any way possible with a power given to them by another.

In this world, however, neither would come to pass. For reasons that seemed innocent at first, but when scrutinized later on would make one wonder if maybe fate, or the Goddess of the Church of Seiros, was not somehow watching out for someone in the small but infamous camp of Berling's Mercenaries.

Empire Territory -1179

"Let's see now...I think we passed that tree a few hours back?" A voice said aloud as its owner stared at a sturdy oak, which had a line carved into it made by a sharpened blade. They looked down at the map in front of them, which indicated that they should have been at the flatland where their prey was supposed to be approaching, but all they could see was mountainous hills instead.

"Oi...oi, Shez, who the bloody hell gave you the map?! You know you got the direction sense of a plank o' wood!" An angered male voice called out, drawing the map using person out of their thoughts.

"Oh, Getz! How you doing, buddy?" The named Shez called out with an easy going grin.

Getz, dressed in the furs of an axe using warrior with naught for protection but a sturdy helmet on their head, stomped over and grabbed the map from Shez's hands.

"'Buddy' my left bollock you sodding...gah! No wonder Berling was in such a foul mood." Getz grumbled as he properly figured out where they were on the map near instantly.

"Captain in a bad mood?" Shez parroted, looking confused as to why that was. Then again, Berling, a known mercenary with a chip on her shoulder when she kept being known as the 'second-best' merc in the land, often was in a foul mood since that reputation kept rearing its ugly head on jobs that they often took.

"Of course she is you dolt! You led us halfway through bloody Adrestia! We were supposed to be fighting Jeralt's Mercenaries in Leicester. So who in their right mind gave you that bloody map and told you to direct us?!" Getz asked again.

"Hoo boy." Shez muttered as a wince came over his face, easily imagining the apoplectic expression on the stern woman's face at the moment. "It was the new guy, uh...forgot his name since he only just joined up. He had the funny lisp though."

"Davey then. Captain Berling's gonna flay the poor bastard by the time the night is through. That was our only known lead on Jeralt's Mercs we had Shez and because of a simple map blunder that chance went up in smoke. We were supposed to put our names up as finally being the best o' the best. Even with that Ashen Demon fella that's supposed to be with them." Getz explained.

"Well, what can we do then? Just set up shop in Adrestia for a few months until we can get a new lead on Jeralt's band?" Shez wondered aloud.

"Probably, but for now you'd best get to the fire pit. Lazley's been asking for her drinking buddy. If I didn't know better I'd think she'd gone sweet on you, lucky punk." Getz instructed.

"Geh, more like she wants to see me make a fool of myself. I already learned my lesson once on that pisswater you guys pass on as strong beer and ale. I'll wait till we're in a proper tavern before I do that again." Shez firmly stated, remembering the last time he tried to drink with the others he threw up everything he drank in a few gulps because of how bad it tasted to him.

"Right, right, whatever you say mate. Though I'll be honest, between you and me, I've just had this bad feeling crawling up and down my neck ever since Capn' Berling accepted the chance to fight Jeralt and his crew. Like the reaper was gonna take notice of us real soon." Getz told Shez as they walked towards the lively campground of Berling's Mercenaries.

"Can't say that I felt that way, but has it gone away since we fumbled up big time?" Shez asked while shaking his head at how Getz made himself sound like he had a yellow belly before a possible battle.

"Yeah, believe it or not. I'll count my blessings regardless. Just...for all our sakes, next time someone hands you the map, don't take it, yeah?" Getz requested before splitting off from Shez, going deeper into the camp to report to their boss.

'I know my sense of direction ain't the best, but it wasn't THAT bad, was it?' Shez thought to himself, a small frown on his face shaking his head and heading the opposite direction of his companion, towards the mess area for whatever grub they would have hunted for the evening.

He had no way of knowing that his actions had saved a lot of lives that night...even if it only was delaying the inevitable, considering how the business he worked in operated. Instead, he just spent it chatting the moonlight away with his comrades before turning in for the evening.

Come morning, they'd have new orders to fill out and more money to make for their coffers. Weapons and travel wasn't cheap, after all.

Six Months Later

Near Zanado Canyon – Count Rowe Territory, 1180

As it turned out, Shez's map blunder proved to be a boon for the Berling Mercenaries. As they were in the Empire territory, at first, they found several months worth of good pay to help settle some 'territorial' disputes on behalf of the von Vestera family. Despite not having any territory of their own in exchange for being the right hand of the Emperor, or Empress to be currently, they still wanted to get of annoyances before they interfered with Imperial interests.

While they were there, they had gotten some intel that Jeralt's Mercenaries had been heading closer and closer to the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus as it was roughly the time of year that they got invasions from Duscur rebels. So once they had finished up mopping the last bits of pocket resistance in Arundel Territory, they immediately headed up to see if they could have their destined match after it had gotten unfortunately delayed.

Currently, they were between the territory of Count Rowe, one of the Western Nobles and the mountains that made up the Zanado Canyons. It was fairly empty as far as territory went, as Zanado had a bad reputation for being a hideout for bandits and demonic beasts for the curses that seemed to plague the area. At the same time however, it served as a good shortcut to cut through northwards.

For now, Berling had her company stop at a small farming village to see if they could get some more up to date info, having been on a constant march for almost two months to make sure they got to Faerghus if not first, then at least within a decent timeframe for a match.

As the mercenaries began to unpack, Shez looked at the nearby buildings, having a nagging feeling in the back of his head that something was not quite right. The locals seemed...cagey, scared even as their eyes were often shifting back and forth to any kinds of shadows being cast, despite the sun being high in the sky. Even the daily tasks and trading seemed to be done in a rushed hurry.

While refilling his water skin at a local well, he felt a tap on his shoulder and looked behind him. It was Lazley, their resident archer and his 'drinking buddy'. She started to call herself that since she was the first to share a drink with him when he got picked up and scouted by Berling, but lately the other mercs seemed to keep insinuating that there was more going on to them than met the eye.

"Creepy little place, ain't it?" She asked as a starting point before taking a long ladle and pouring water into her own water skin.

"You can say that again. Can't say I envy them, being a bit too far from the Count for him to care, but close enough to Zanado that bandits could drop in at any time." Shez agreed.

"Sooner we get out of here, the better. Hopefully though we can get some ale before we head out." Lazley had hoped as she tipped some of the cool liquid to relieve her parched throat from the marching.

"I swear, your head is always thinking about the next flagon and tavern." Shez chuckled as Lazley nudged him with a sharp elbow to his side.

"Not just drink. I think about my next hunt and my next bedwarmer." She added in, getting a snort of laughter between the both of them.

"Careful there Lazley, play too fast and loose and you'll end up with a few runts of your own, getting sidelined or taken out of the group altogether." Shez warned.

"Hah! That'll be the day. No I take the moon tea to make sure nothing ever happens." Though the talk of children did put a small smile on the archer's face, she knew that was just too plain in looks to catch the eye of the man she really wanted.

"Oi, get on over to the square ya bunch of lazy bums! Captain's got some new info!" Getz shouted as he was walking back and forth across the village to get all the crew together in one centralized place with the announcement.

Taking a sip of water for himself and refilling it quickly, Shez was letting down the water pail when he noticed the ladle handle snapped in half, sending some leftover water and itself tumbling down into the darkness of the inky black depths.

"Bad feelings, huh?" He said to himself as that was the most blatant kind of omen one could get. Shaking his head, he let go of the rest of the rope line since it was already close enough and walked over to the town square, where Berling was tapping her foot as she did a silent headcount to see if anyone was missing.

After a few more minutes and no more bodies trickling in, she began her announcement.

"Alright, listen up! The village chief was nice enough to give us the heads up on Jeralt's band of sad sacks. Apparently they were supposed to be heading here from Remire village a ways back east by southeast but they never showed up. So we overshot them." She spoke loudly and clearly.

This earned a groan from nearly the entire company.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Still, this is also an opportunity. The local bandits from Kostas, the Iron King, were said to be seen too close for comfort and since Count Rowe can't be bothered to get off his sorry ass from his comfy little seat, we've been hired to clear out the fortress on the condition that we can use it as a forward base from now on!"

This piece of news was met with a loud, roaring cheer from everyone, Shez included. Killing bandits AND getting a sturdy fortress to call their own since nobody bothered with it anymore?

Killing two birds with one stone he would say, yet the nagging feeling from the back of his head was coming back with a vengeance. It sounded far too...'clean'...for there not to be some kind of catch for something like this.

Yet mercenaries followed the trail of gold and glory, not personal feelings. It was just how things were.

"We're gonna take this job and then head off to Remire. Jeralt's run out of places to hide. By this time in a few months, the Blade Breaker will be no more! It'll be the time of the Berling Mercenaries!" She cried out.

"BERLING! BERLING! BERLING!" Everyone in the company cheered her name before she dismissed them to get supplies together for their raid. They had a target, they had a location...it was time to go on the prowl and enjoy the thrill of the hunt.

One Week Later

Having gotten proper supplies, a battle plan and scouting ahead to make sure their info was accurate, everyone felt like things seemed to line up pretty much as was said in the small village town once they reached the old fortress the remnants of the Iron King's bandit tribe had holed up in.

If Shez was being honest, it felt far too easy. Especially since their mercenary company was more than twice the size of the defenders, who had probably not gotten any proper rest or food in weeks since Kostas himself was apparently stuck in Zanado Canyon proper. Apparently he had gotten on the wrong end of the Officer's Academy at Garreg Mach Monestary according to a lone bandit they had interrogated.

Bad luck for them, good luck for Berling and her crew.

"Alright people, listen up! We're gonna go in waves here. I doubt that we'll even need the second one, but a complacent merc is a dead merc. So here's how it goes. Wave one is three groups of nine. Team leaders are Getz, Shez and Lazley while Tactical Command falls to me. Same thing with wave two and three. You'll be called as needed. Move out!" Berling barked at all of them with her orders being followed to the letter.

Shez did not waste any time in picking out the group that would be going with him. He sought an even spread of cavaliers, swordsmen, one mage and a healer. Getz and Lazley roughly had the same idea, but catered to their own strengths with Lazley focusing on more armored allies to cover her and her companion bow user while Getz was a battering ram with multiple axe users meant to slam into a crowd and start chopping limbs and heads off.

The Battle of Silver and Iron

For Gold and Glory, Charge Forth!

With a wave of her hand, a battle cry came from all of Berling's mercenaries, showing the bandits that they were no longer alone. Battle horns were blown, horses were shooting ahead and soon enough, a wave of bandits approached them.

Getting closer and closer, Shez saw desperation, terror and fear in their eyes. Some of the bandits had sunken cheeks, while others had heavy bags on their face. They were on their last legs, but they had their orders. No mercy was to be shown and every bandit was to be put to the sword.

His first opponent was a fellow swordsman. The movements he made were jerky, sloppy and inefficient as Shez saw telegraphed strikes from practically a mile away. They were simple slashes, chops and stabs all things considered. So all the purple haired mercenary needed to do was parry a slash, push one foot forward and shoulder check the poor fool. The other man was easily knocked back as Shez took another step forward, allowing his blade to run across the rusted sword of his opponent before taking a calculated swing of his own sword.

The cut went from shoulder to opposite hip, his opponent dead before he even hit the floor. By now the battle started in earnest, though in actuality it felt more like a rout from the start. He saw from the corner of his eye Getz chopping a bandit in half, while Lazley on the opposite end was peppering a stubborn bandit with her arrows.

Their groups moved in lockstep with them, making simple formations to take down the unorganized bandits. Within minutes, the main foyer was clear with several dozen dead bandits littering the ground and not even a serious injury or casualty on their end to speak of.

Shez kicked a dead bandit for good measure, making sure that they were playing possum with them before feeling satisfied that no tricks were going on. They had lost several comrades to tricks like that where they would pretend to be dead or hide in groups of dead bodies only to strike at an exposed back.

From the foyer, there was more than a few areas to check out. He saw a courtyard, inner hall and he could imagine that there was a dining hall, dungeon, training hall, logistics room among other things.

As he was debating on where to go next, he felt a hand tap on his shoulder and saw Berling standing next to him.

"I don't like the feel of this. All mercenaries love a good and easy mission, but they're the ones that go sideways the fastest and in the worst ways. So to leave no stone uncovered, check the dungeons that way with your group. If they were going to hide anything valuable, that would probably be one of the first places to fill up with ill gotten goods that can be stuck behind hard to breach iron cages." She ordered and observed.

"You too huh? First Getz, then Lazley, now even you Captain Berling. Everyone's been having second thoughts on everything but me it feels like." Shez said with a shake of his head.

Berling just slapped his back hard with a gauntlet clad hand, nearly toppling him over with the force she was putting into it.

"It's called having common sense, you damn fool. Now go, we got things here."

With a last nod to his superior, Shez strode to the upper left portion of the courtyard where, sure enough, bandits were coming out of the dungeon area.

Unlike the previous bunch of bandits, the ones coming from that area seemed much more well fed and fit to fight.

Which only meant that Shez had to try harder as he ordered his cavalier troops in first, three spearmen on horseback aiming low and striking hard with their lances. His swordsmen went next after the cavaliers broke the bandits lines by practically bowling them over. They locked their swords with the bandits that had either evaded the charge or were quick to get back up before they could properly regain their posture.

Shez himself entered the fray after the majority of the forces were locked in combat. The lone mage of his group was safe for the moment, so they had taken to casting elemental magic to assist the others. A lone fireball here, a stray ice shard there, all of it added up to keeping the bandits off their proper footing.

This allowed him to slide into a duel between a bandit and his group member, sticking his sword between them and quickly slashing forward, gutting the bandit like a fish. A quick flick of his sword got the blood off of it before it could set and he jumped into another clash with an overhead swing that lopped off another bandit's head, somewhat messily at that as he did not have a good angle, so it was slightly attached to the bandit's neck still.

Regardless, the man was dead within seconds and it was an easy mop-up from there. It was when they got into the inner partition that they faced a bit more staunched resistance.

"The girl is the only thing we got left to keep us from the hangman's gallows! Give it all your got ye miserable bastards!" The leader of the defenders yelled. This caused every single bandit between there and the dungeon, a good three dozen all in total, to rush in a mad frenzy at the nine of them.

This time Shez took point and ordered for his mage to push for a powerful and wide range spell. He rushed forward with blade pointed at the throng of bandits and pivoted in with a light push forward off his back leg. Instead of going for a sword slash, he instead used momentum to spin himself around and got three of his foes with a roundhouse kick.

The strike pushed three of them back against the others that were still charging forward, leading to an awkward pushing struggle between the bandits to get them back to running forward. All the while Shez was still moving as the moment his feet touched solid ground he spun himself in reverse like a mad top, lopping off a bandit's arm in the process.

Seeing the limb fly in the air lowered the morale of the others immediately, which was needed as the bandits that had not been stopped by his attack had finally managed to do some noteworthy damage to his allies. In the brief moment he had spun himself around, Shez saw one of his cavaliers had lost their horse and was now fighting with spear in hand on the ground.

Luckily, the horse had also crushed the bandit that had killed it under its massive and powerful frame. Others had gone for the mage, seeing the buildup of a spell going on but were stopped by his other sword wielding allies. They kept the mage safe as each one pushed back one to two bandits on their own. Any wounds they had received were quickly knitted and mended together by their lone healer, who had been waving their staff around like a madman in making sure to keep everyone else alive.

All of that was caught in the scant seconds he had looked at them before he had cut off the bandit's arm. Now he was stuck in a mob of clashing bodies that all wanted to chop HIM to pieces instead. Thankfully, the purple haired swordsman was no fool. He kept himself low, letting the frenzied axe swinging of the bandits go wide and hit each other over him.

Rather than fight head on, he shoulder checked bandits at the waist, pushing them back or when he had some breathing room, used his sword to cut off legs or wound their knees to keep them from standing. So even while outnumbered ten to one, his experience allowed him to keep even pace with his foes.

"Group Leader, fall back! It's ready!" Came out a loud yell, piercing over the clashing of weapons.

Knowing that was the signal of the spell being complete, Shez bid a hasty retreat. Taking in a light breath, he pushed himself forward and jumped up at the nearest bandit.

They had yelled at seeing him pop out of nowhere, but he did not attack. Instead, he tucked in his legs and then slammed them into the other mans chest, pushing him even further up into the air, where he grabbed an overhead chandelier which had been lighting up the room the entire time and yanked himself up, tipping over a few candles and setting tables and bandits clothing on fire.

"NOW!" Shez shouted as he was cleared from the hopeful blast radius being higher up than any could reach at the moment.

"Oh howling winds, grace us with thy fangs, cut through the path ahead of me and bite deeply into my foes. ELWIND!" The mage chanted, getting a bit more strength out of it by holding the power with an aria before letting it loose.

The result was a large and more importantly horizontal blade of wind appearing in front of the mage before he had shot it forward. All of the mercenaries had jumped out of the way, laying low to let the magic fly over their heads while Shez was too high up for it to reach him.

Instead, it cut through all the standing bandits like a hot knife through butter. None of them had spell resistant armor nor knew how to channel magic themselves, so they could only helplessly see their final moments being bisected at their waists and also seeing the same happen to their comrades.

If that was not enough the burning fires Shez had accidentally unleashed in the room had gotten stronger being fed by the wind magic and those that had not died instantly were instead being burned alive.

This went from room to room, the strong Elwind spell, powered and fed by the flames it had passed through, slammed and destroyed any rock walls between it and the next room, leaving slag behind and causing any that had lied in wait of an ambush a rather nasty surprise until it finally could go no further and exploded at the final room above ground.

Shez could only whistle in appreciation at the destructive power that had been unleashed. Letting go of the chandelier carefully, he landed on a table that had survived the fighting, which promptly buckled under the weight of his plated armor and hopped further down to solid ground.

"That was a nice bit of spell slinging there." He breezily stated to their mage, who had gotten down on hands and knees, using all they had to fuel that massive spell.

Looking at his group, he could see that this battle was beginning to wear on them as their initial burst of adrenaline had finally worn off. He himself was still fighting fit, but he had conserved his strength rather than letting it all go in each and every fight. A tired mercenary was a soon to be dead mercenary in an ongoing battle after all.

"I'll check out the dungeon on my own. Take a breather and a concoction if you need to." He ordered the other members as he began to push his way further inside.

The heat from the flames that were licking the floor and walls were bothersome, but they had not covered the entirety of the rooms, so he carefully made his way through the first. In the second, he kept his ears out for any groans or whimpers from miraculous survivors. Those that might have had some very bad luck in living through cuts from wind and flame, he ended quickly with his sword with a quick slice to the throat. It was better to go quickly than suffer needlessly.

In the third room he found the leader of the bunch bleeding out, one leg nothing more than a stump and the other not faring much better.

"W-why? Damn it Kostas...shouldn't have taken the job…" the man muttered before the light of life in his eyes flickered to the emptiness of death.

Shez hummed at that bit of information. Hiring bandits was a much riskier move over mercenaries. Unlike Berling's group, bandits like Kostas would fight for the gold only. They cared nothing for their reputation unless it was built on fear and they didn't care who got in the way. Anyone, even a lord hiring bandits to attack someone was asking for trouble with the capital cities.

However, it wasn't like he could interrogate the man for any more information. Instead he looted the body, grabbing a set of keys for downstairs and also a pouch that was hefted with gold, indicating that the fool had planned to bail out soon, but not soon enough.

He pocketed the gold and went downstairs, grabbing a torch that was hanging on the wall for better light. Thankfully it was not a long walk to the bottom, about the equivalent of two flights of stairs at most.

"Let's see who was so important to them." He muttered as he used the torch to see who was in the cells.

Most of them were empty. In fact out of ten cells, Shez only found one that had been occupied in any capacity. Sticking the torch as close to the iron bars as he could, he was not surprised in the slightest at who he had seen inside.

It was a woman, dressed up in a combination of black and gold uniform dress and skirt. Her hair was a vibrant red and she appeared to be young, roughly his age at most. What did surprise him was the lack of injuries or wounds on her, along with signs of...other things that bandits tended to enjoy to do to female prisoners.

However, her bearing and posture even with her hands bound screamed 'noble' to the mercenary. Which meant that there was undoubtedly a worried parent that would be happy to see their child back along with a nice chunk of gold as a reward. Not that he was going to just leave her there as that was just not how Shez worked as a person. Instead, he stuck the torch to a small metal opening on the wall meant for someone to put it on and cut her bonds free with his sword.

Once the woman was on the ground, he carefully cut off the other bits of rope still binding her hands together before sheathing his sword and pulling her up.

"Hey, you still fully working up there?" Shez asked, gently patting the woman's cheek with his gauntlet clad hand to get her to respond.

It took a minute but she had eventually opened her eyes.

"Who...wha…" She muttered in a daze before looking up at him.

"Y-you're not one of the bandits…" She managed to mutter before shaking her head and trying to get her bearings back.

"Definitely not one of them, in fact I'm pretty sure everyone else is just about finished mopping them up. I'm Shez, part of the Berling Mercenaries, at your service." He introduced himself with what he thought was a winning smile.

The woman instead stared at him a bit flatly before sighing. "My name is Monica. Monica von Ochs of Adrestia." She responded.

Her last name struck a chord in Shez's mind, considering that he had just been in Adrestia a few months prior.

"Oh yeah. I remember there was a lord that went by that name who had been looking a little ill as he hired us to take down a bandit group that had been getting too large to ignore with the local militia. His name had von Ochs in it too." He recalled, getting a hopeful look in Monica's eyes.

"Daddy is ok?" She asked immediately, taking his hands into her own despite them being covered in dirt, grime and blood.

"Er...well he didn't look like he was gonna keel over if that's what you mean. He didn't look like he had been getting enough sleep, but he seemed sound enough." Shez tried to explain.

"Ohhh…I hope he and Lady Edelgard are ok." She whimpered.

"Edelgard?" Shez parroted, prompting a confused look from Monica.

"Lady Edelgard von Hresvelg? Future leader of the Adrestian Empire? You mean that you're not here on her order and coin to rescue me?" She asked.

"Uhh...nope. I was in Adrestia for a few months but I didn't meet with any of the big cheeses there outside of a Vestra guy. In fact, me being here to rescue you is kind of dumb luck." Shez admitted.

That admission took the hopeful look right out of her eyes, leaving her despondent instead. "Oh…"

"Sorry, but I'm not gonna lie to ya just to make you feel better. We're still in the middle of a battle so I'm gonna get you out of here." He told her flat out and then picked her up bridal style in his arms, prompting a heavy blush from the girl.

"W-wha!" She squeaked out before Shez kicked the door open.

"Your first gaol break, you must feel honored." He cheekily told her as he rushed up two steps at a time back into the fiery rooms above, which showed Monica exactly why he had wanted to carry her instead of on her own power since she had just woken up and was still admittedly quite drowsy.

That was not even factoring in that she currently had no way of defending herself as there had been no spellbooks nearby she could used to at least get some of her magic flowing again after months of being unable to cast anything at all lest she get a beating.

As they got upstairs, Monica could see why Shez elected to carry her. The flames and dead bodies, coupled with her head feeling light from the mistreatment of only enough food and water to function was getting to her.

While he walked back the way he came in, Shez himself was surprised to hear the sounds of battle intensifying, rather than weakening.

'Did Kostas evade the Knights of Seiros and come back with others?' He guessed to himself as he looked down at Monica, who looked a bit frightened at hearing the loud noises coming from outside.

"Ok, change of plans. Carrying you piggyback. Just hold on tight, alright?" he asked as she gave a shaky nod. With permission given, he set her down and then knelt down with his back to her. She looped her arms underneath his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist to allow him to draw his sword with one arm, the other keeping her legs steady once he got back up and started to move again.

Courtyard

The moment they stepped out into the natural sunlight, the only thing the duo could see was pure pandemonium. Berling's mercenaries were fighting, desperately at that, against people clad in black robes and masks which covered their faces. Unlike the bandits, the masked soldiers were absolutely a cut above the rest.

Though not good enough that Shez couldn't detect an ambush that was readily forthcoming. He skipped back one step to avoid several knives skewering the area where he once stood. Two robed and masked men stepped out of the shadows provided by the trees that sparsely littered the courtyard, holding up even more of the thrown knives between their fingers.

He had to be very, very careful about how he moved now. One wrong step and either he or Monica would be killed or badly injured. As much as he did not want to, he would have to made a stand in a narrow walkway with two warriors in front and a still burning fire behind him.

Holding up his sword, he shuffled lightly to the left and right, trying to see if they'd follow his movement or straight up attack him. The masked men looked at each other for a moment before deciding to do both. One charged straight towards him, while the other threw their knives as both cover and as a way to try and entrap the two of them.

Shez was not about to let such a simplistic trick get the better of him. Even with essentially being limited with a weight on his back and one arm available, he carefully swung his sword and redirected the trajectory of the thrown knives by using the flat of his blade to literally bat them away from him before lowering the two of them as much as they could while striding forward.

He then tried to killed the closer masked man with a rising slash, only to have it blocked by their knife. They struggled for a brief moment in strength, but eventually he backed off once more as Monica's weight was adding to his struggle in overpowering his opponent.

This made the masked man think he was having the upper hand and shot forward to try and cut Shez's throat open from one end to the other. What had happened instead was that Shez flipped the way he gripped his sword so that it was in a reverse hold and he simply stuck it out, letting the masked man run himself through with the blade before grunting with effort and moving them all to the right, where several more knives dug into the man's robes, effectively killing him then if they had not already been killed earlier.

All that Shez could do at this point was pull out with a bit of effort his sword and kicked the dead knife thrower into their comrade, making the other fall with a corpses body weight holding him down as the mercenary approached.

"It's you or me and I can tell ya straight up, it won't be me." He said before pushing his sword through the throat of the other masked man, leaving a fine line running through the neck before pulling it back out and twirling it to get the blood off of it.

With that task done, he got into the courtyard proper and saw the chaos in full rather than just from the edge of his vision.

All three waves of Berling's Mercenaries had been called in. Groups of black robes and the mish-mashed armor of the company clashed in a free-for-all. The bodies of the dead were strewn all over the place. Yet like the center of a storm, the swordmaster that was Berling was cleaving flesh and steel like howling winds with Getz grabbing the attention of anyone he could with loud roars to allow the Captain a good hit and Lazley kept her back to her comrades as she took out the long range fighters with her arrows.

"Captain!" Shez shouted as he pushed his way into the fray with Monica in tow.

"Shez! Ya lazy deadbeat, where the hell were ya?!" Berling shouted in return as she cleaved a lance-using black robed man in two, spear and all.

"Carrying live cargo! She's precious too. Noble's daughter!" He informed her as he side stepped an axe swing and slammed a back closed fist to the person closest to him. This caused the weapon to go flying in the air.

He placed the hilt of his sword in his mouth and bit down tightly on the leather as he grabbed the axe out of mid-air by its hilt, reversed the blade and did an overhead swing of his own. The mask, along with the person head behind it, was cleaved partway into two before kicking the dead man to the ground and then pulling his sword back into his hand.

"Oh ho! Payday! Now we just gotta scram from here. We finished off the bandits, but this group here just magic'd their way in and started to shoot first, ask questions never." Berling informed him.

"I...I know these guys." Monica muttered slowly as she looked down at the black robes littered around them.

"They the ones that nabbed you and the bandits just took advantage of you already being captured?" Berling asked.

"Y-yes. How did you know?" Monica asked, astounded that the woman in front of her got it in right one go.

"You don't get to live to be a mercenary my age without seeing and hearing a lot of bullshit sounding tales that were too real to be made up. Wouldn't be the first time two groups tried to take advantage of an individual for different gains."

"That's right. So can we have her back please? I need her dead, like, yesterday."

All five stiffened up at hearing the voice seemingly coming out of nowhere.

Even while Berling, Shez and Monica were talking, Getz and Lazley were keeping lookout and the swordsmen's spatial awareness wasn't lacking either.

That was when the sky above them went dark for a moment.

"SHEZ! CAPTAIN!" Came the desperate shout.

A manic sound of glee came as Shez, Monica and Berling were all forcefully knocked out of the way by Getz, who tried to protect them by hurling his axe towards their attacker, but a long, whip like object batted it out of the way before the figure slammed all of its body weight on top of him, causing the man to cough out blood as he felt his ribs breaking from under the pressure.

"GETZ!" Shez shouted as tried to steady himself and Monica. Berling grabbed his arm to center himself as Lazley fired off arrow after arrow into a dust cloud brought up by the crash, only for each to be easily deflected.

"Oh please, like that would do anything…" A bored, feminine voice called out from the smokescreen before a black blur shot out of it and multiple knives where slammed into various parts of Lazley's body, causing the archer to drop where she stood.

"Damn it! Lazley! Alright, Shez, this has officially gotten too hot to handle. Full on retreat!" Berling barked at the stunned swordsman, seeing two of his closest allies taken out in seconds. The Captain reached behind her and pulled out a war horn, which she brought up to her lips and blew the loudest call it could muster to signal a retreat.

"Keep the cargo safe, no matter what! That's an order Shez!" Berling ordered once again as she put up her blade in a parry position as their foe revealed itself to them.

'She' could be loosely described as a woman, who had skin as gray as the dead and what appeared to be jesters markings on her face in the shape of a teardrop and several other designs on admittedly shapely legs with a body that would have oozed sensuality were it not for the cruel smile on her face. The whip like object that they had seen had turned out to not be just one, but three tail like appendages that came from the woman's back.

"God damn she's a freak!" Berling muttered to herself.

"Uh, no. I'm not a freak. I'm Kronya and you all are dead. We paid a lot to have that bitch Hresvelg give up the girl for our needs and I'm not about to let you get away with her." The now named Kronya told them as she twirled a menacing looking pair of black knives out of thin air.

"L-lady Edelgard?" Monica muttered, almost unable to believe her ears.

"Oh! Oh! You really believed in her didn't you?" Kronya said with a twisted smile on her face, pearly white teeth belaying evil intentions as she leapt straight at Berling, who quickly showed why she was the Captain as she fended off all five of the others strikes with quick and fluid motions while Shez continued to inch further and further away from the battle. He was trying his best to not capture her attention to much to him trying to escape.

"Yeah, we told your precious Lady Edelgard we needed a sacrifice for our plans to go forward. It didn't matter who, so long as they were high enough on the food chain to be of importance but not too high that going missing would cause a panic. She chose you Monica. You're my important little flesh bag. So don't wait too long for me. Cause I'm coming to you." Kronya explained, taking delight at the disbelief in Monica's eyes grew more and more.

"You...you're lying. You BITCH, TAKE BACK WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT LADY EDELGARD!" Monica screamed and nearly tore herself away from Shez, only to slump forward into his shoulder as he slammed the hilt of his sword to her head to have her be knocked out.

"Hmmm…no, I don't think I will. In facttttt…..let's end this farce." Kronya responded before snapping her fingers.

As if willed by the heavens, a very large magic portal appeared behind her and from it came…

"Oh shit! A demonic beast of all things!" Shez swore as he now turned around and was running full speed away from the battlefield.

"Oh YESSSS! Come back my prey! I want to make you suffer some more!" Kronya shouted as she ordered the beast to feast on the dead bodies and kill everything around it while she ran towards the retreating swordsman, only to be stopped by Berling sliding in front of her and nearly cutting her appendages off with a well timed slash that seemed to radiate magic from it.

"No, you're dealing with me. You think you can kill my men and humiliate my Mercenary Corps and get away with it jack-all free? Think again bitch!" She shouted as Kronya merely scoffed, despite Shez and Monica getting further and further away, their purple and red haired forms becoming dots in her vision.

"The man can hoof it, I'll give him that much. Beastie, kill her." Kronya ordered as he prepared to take off again, only to feel a tug at her legs.

Badly wounded, but not dead, Getz and Lazley clung onto her for all they were worth to prevent her from taking a single step forward.

"We...we are, the Berling Mercenaries!" Getz shouted amid coughs which spat out blood from his lips.

"The...the finest bunch of sellswords this side of Fodlan." Lazley continued, even as her own blood poured out from five holes in her body, making her feel numb, woozy and cold.

"If you think that we won't go down without a fight, bitch you got another thing coming! While I wish I could put myself in Shez's shoes and book it, I'm the FUCKING CAPTAIN! I got my reputation to keep hold of and I'll be damned if we're just some stupid fucking passage in your book!" Berling finished as she ran forward towards what she knew was to be her final battle.

All around her, the men and women she handpicked fell one by one, overwhelmed by magic, trickery and sheer numbers. The savagery of the demonic beast took things a step further as she could see several members screaming as the were ripped to shreds or worse, eaten alive.

Getz had attempted to bite off a chunk of Kronya's leg and Lazley had stabbed her spare hunting knife into the womans foot, causing her to scream in pain before two of the three tails took their sharp tips and fatally stabbed it through both mercenaries hearts.

"Alright, fuck Thales and his punishment. Your ass is MINE!" She howled at Berling who had thrown herself against the demonic beast.

For hours, the sounds of clashing steel, the screams of pain and the sounds and smell of death lingered across the fortress. It was only when the sun set, did the last Mercenary in the fortress fall.

Berling died on her feet, standing tall. One arm gone, a knife stuck in her eye, her chest armor practically caved in, but she got the last laugh.

She bought the last of her crew time to escape.

So her story would never die, so long as there was even just one person who could tell it to others.

Kronya was sickened by the smile that was on the others face in death and her own failure, but it wasn't like they needed the body at this point. She had seen enough of Monica to replicate her with the forbidden spell easily. Killing her was just making it easier to cover tracks and like her comrade in Faerghus, inserting herself into the flesh of a dead body was easier than using magic to sustain a facade.

But no, one woman and her god damned mercenary company seemed hellbent on making sure she couldn't move a single fucking inch until they were absolutely dead beyond any doubt. Even then, she could barely move at this point. The damage had been done as one arm was sliced near down the middle vertically, one of her tail appendages was snapped in two and her face was beginning to swell from having a gauntlet clad fist smashed against it...repeatedly.

"I'll get you yet. I never leave a job half-done." She swore.

Faerghus Wilderness

Shez was huffing and wheezing as he finally found his stamina hitting its limit. The fortress was so far away at this point that he couldn't even see it before he entered the thick foliage of the woods that he had passed through. At that point, they HAD to be far away enough from the psychotic woman who wanted their heads on a platter. He had ran for nearly two hours straight and he'd be damned if magic could warp that far that easily.

Thinking about that moment had him slamming a fist against the nearest tree in frustration. Captain Berling, Getz, Lazley...he was not as much an idiot as others made him out to be at times. He knew that they were all dead. The demonic beast that the woman had summoned was twice the size of the average beast, which was already twice as tall as a normal man, with hide no doubt extremely resilient against slashing, stabbing and piercing.

He had only fought against those creatures sparsely. One wrong move was quite literally the difference between life and death and like everything else in the world he wasn't ready to meet the Goddess just yet.

To be totally helpless, however...it took him back to his rookie days when he could barely know how to properly swing a sword in a real fight and not a sparring practice. He had been weak, carried by the others and it wasn't a feeling he enjoyed all that much.

Then there was the fact that he now couldn't take Monica home even if he wanted to. The people in black had kidnapped her far too easily and if she was at her home, it would be even easier to disappear a second time and then truly never be seen again.

Berling's Mercenaries did not sacrifice themselves just to get her killed all over again for dropping her home for a reward. They would have to find a place to lay low, keep an ear to the ground and know when it was safe to finally start moving again.

As he racked his brain to figure out something, he heard Monica slowly groan and become conscious once more.

"Ah, so the sleeping beauty graces the land of the awake once more." Shez told her as she pushed herself up off the ground where he had carefully laid her down at.

"Wh-what happened? We were fighting then...then...THEN THAT -" Monica began to raise her voice, only for Shez to put a finger on her lips and shush her, gaining reddening cheeks for violating her personal space like that.

"We had to run. Captain Berling…she's gone now. Her and all the rest of the crew. I'm all that's left of the Corps and I'm going to make sure that you're safe as best I can before we figure out a way to get you home without those freaks kidnapping you again as soon as my eyes are off you." He explained slowly and carefully to her.

She then realized the severity of his words and looked down, forlorn and lost at having such an able fighting force and a veteran force at that being taken out like it was child's play. "I'll...I'll pay you whatever you need, just please...please don't let me get taken by them again. I...I need to find Lady Edelgard and get the truth out of her. I know she didn't just give me up to that...that thing so she can use my face to get around places. That was not who she was." She swore, her fingers digging grooves into the dirt underneath her as she did so.

"At this point I'd be willing to do it for free just to get back at that woman in black, but I gotta make a professional point and profit. Being a one man army is not going to be easy. Still, from this point on it's you and me, all the way for better or worse." Shez told her before sticking out his hand.

Monica did not need to hesitate and took his hand into hers and gave it a firm shake. "I might be a noble, but I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty if I need to do so."

He could respect that since he was absolutely certain at one point or another they would have to get their hands dirty with blood and grime as it just came with the territory.

"First order of business, finding a place to lay low where they can't find us easily." He suggested, pulling his armor open a bit and pulling out of it a map, missing Monica blush lightly from him briefly exposing some bare flesh from his chest in front of her.

Rolling it out, he pointed to the rough last direction that they had recently been at. "We're deep in the fringes of Rowe, but maybe we can be lucky enough to tame a few wild horses and get to a hiding place sooner and better than we can imagine right now."

Monica pointed smack dab at the center of the map. "Garreg Mach Monastery and the Officer's Academy. It's large, easy to blend into the city town too. Plus, in my final year we kept hearing rumors that the Monastery is still so old that plenty of hidden passages were scattered about. If you want to disappear for awhile, that's going to be your best bet." She explained.

"Ok, but the only thing is that I just ran, I don't actually know where we are on the map. Just that we're near Count Rowe territory. How far would we have to go to get to the Monastery from here?" He asked.

Monica placed a finger right on Count Rowe's territory and traced both a straight line going through the mountains and a curved line around the mountains.

"Only two real ways. One is that we cut through Zanado but I don't recommend it. That place is crawling with steep cliffs, demonic beasts and all sorts of nasty things ready to kill you at a moments notice. Yet despite all that, it would only take us about three weeks to reach Garreg Mach. The second is that we go around the mountain base, through Remire Village and then into Garreg Mach. This would take us nearly a month, but we can definitely do it if we forage, gather and stay smart about where to sleep, eat and take shifts." She pointed out.

"Huh, you're really ready for the rough life ahead aren't you? Most nobles I meet hate getting their own hands dirty if they're not from Faerghus, they consider it beneath them more often than not if they're in more peaceful areas. I'd imagine the ladies would bemoan and whine about missing things like teas and sweets." Shez teased as bit.

Monica stuck her tongue out of at him at the mention of sweets. "Bleh, I can't really stand that stuff. I prefer more gamey or fishy stuff or swimming through an easy current at a river." She admitted.

Shez chuckled and placed a hand over his heart. "A noble woman unafraid of hunting her own game and sleeping it out in the wilderness? I must be dreaming."

That earned him a light shove. "Well wake up not so Prince Charming. We got a lot of ground to cover. Can you hand me the map for a bit while we still got a bit of daylight left?" Monica requested, noting the twilight glow of the sky as the sun began to slowly set on them.

"Knock yourself out, I'll keep watch for predators or maybe if we're lucky a stray rabbit or deer will come back for us to cut up." Shez offered as he let her pick it up to go over it in more detail while he leaned back against a tree, keeping his awareness open for anything that might come their way even if his thoughts were becoming more occupied.

'She really is nothing like most nobles we come across. Self-reliant isn't a word that many can throw around these days but she definitely can be considered that. Shame she's a mage though cause we won't be in any town anytime soon to arm her up. Though if she can use at least a knife properly I won't have to worry as much if more beasts than anticipated stalk us." As he thought this, he opened up a pouch tied tightly to the side of his body and pulled out his own throwing knife, twirling it carefully yet expertly between his fingers as he continued with his train of thought.

"We have crazy mages on one side, Adrestia politics on the other and we can't even trust that Empress Edelgard chick Monica is obsessing over on the off chance Kronya was right and she did sell Monica out to her for some nasty dark ritual. Can't go to Leicester either, it's around the time of year the Almyran's invade...which really does happen around the same time as the Duscur rebels. Never really thought about it but Fodlan is all sorts of messed up no matter where you go." Shez paused his knife twirling as his train of thought derailed at how so many political headaches popped up like clockwork at the same times of the year.

That was no longer going to be his problem now, however. If he wanted Berling's Mercenaries to truly survive, he'd have to make sure that their legacy would be upheld through his own actions and the first order of business was just to keep what felt like Fodlan's most wanted woman for all the wrong reasons safe from all the wrong kinds of people.

"Can't say that I'm not up for the challenge though." He muttered as the sun finally set, letting the dark evening take hold of their hidey hole of underbrush and trees.

"Monica, we gotta set up a low fire. I'll teach you how to maintain it that it won't break tree cover that much." At his calling out, the mage immediately came to his side with several thick branches in her arms, evidently having finished her map searching and trying to make herself useful while he was lost in his thoughts.

"Will these help any?" She offered as she handed them over to him before rubbing her sore arms from holding onto him for a long time.

"Some of them yeah, we'll also need a ring of rocks and something to hold the twigs together with along with leaves. I have a bit of twine and some flint so at least we don't need to worry there." He informed her as they got to work quickly but quietly. He set up a ring of rocks after making a dirt laden circle free of grass and throwing the smaller twigs into the circle along with the leaves. Then, using the twine he had in another side pouch, he tied together the larger and thicker branches in a semi-circular fashion.

"It's modeled after the huts some of the folks in Duscur lived in before the massacre, at least according to picture books my mom had before I left home." He explained. The thicker twigs would keep most of the smoke contained, only leaving the opening he gave it to pour the smoke out of. It would also protect it from wind and light rain.

Monica was fascinated by the process and kept a close watch as he grabbed his flint and ran it against a rock until sparks flew and lit the leaves on fire. Soon, they her a serviceable fire going and as he said, the smoke did not break the tree cover they had too much to give their position away to anyone that might be chasing them, allowing for a bit of safety for a few hours.

"Hey Shez?" Monica asked as she watched him sit with his back against a tree to ensure that he was covered at a partial angle should any attacks happen.

"Yeah?" He asked as he prepared to take a light nap with one eye open to make sure that a steady watch would be kept between the two of them.

"I never got to say it earlier but...thank you. Thank you for rescuing me and...I'm sorry for what happened afterwards. To your friends and comrades."

As she said this, she slid over to where he was and sat next to him, keeping some of his body heat close as the longest day of their lives came to a close.

Tomorrow, they would be off to Garreg Mach for the new chapter of their lives.

End Chapter

Bonus

Theme Song: Ittou Ryouran

Lyrics translated by yuNSubs on Youtube

Looking at the scene of the end

I realize that I'll have to leave it behind all over again

(Shez looks at his home village behind him before a spark of flame turns it into the fortress where Berling's Mercenaries met their end, causing him to wince)

These meetings, partings and even our bonds

Will this coming future

Be a place to call home?

(Shez thinks of all the people he has met and left behind, from the mercenaries to Monica before an image of Garreg Mach is imprinted into his mind)

It's because I don't know that I continue forward

The Light I saw when I kept my eyes closed

The Darkness which I open my eyes to, I will

Slash it through!

(With his eyes closed, Shez takes out his dual swords, the light of the above ground taken away and replaced with the darkness of the Abyss before he ran forward and cut through an enemy in front of him)

To survive on this path of carnage

I will cut this pulsing fate apart

To engrave the present onto eternity

Just this one feeling alone

Even if the form cannot remain.

(Shez slashes and cuts through numerous men and beasts alike, his ancient, bone-like sword glowing a sickly purple as he sticks it deep into a demonic beast, all while a hand of pure white touches his shoulder from behind)

If it's sorrowful

Then let's just cast it aside

If it's happy then let's take it to heart

"If you're still human"

Then perhaps doing so is rather shameless

But surely it's better that way, isn't it?

(Shez thinks of the sad times of loss, the happiness of meeting the others and the quiet times where he shares a laugh with a figure in white, even if the timing of doing so isn't quiet proper while in the middle of battle)

Through the unseen curtains within my eyelids

Drag out the visible dreams and

Indulge in it!

(After killing the demonic beast, Shez and the figure in white share a knowing smile between each other)

Our destinies bound like two sides of a coin

Shall together hone this blazing heart

Reinforced

Like welded steel

It will become stronger

So that it won't ever break

(Moving to the next fight, Shez leaves behind the figure in white, who quietly mouths to him 'Go ever forward, my partner in destiny')

Slash it through!

To survive on this path of carnage

I will cut this pulsing fate apart

(Shez is now in an open warring battlefield, clashing with an army of red while an army of blue is charging behind him as his swords slice and reap through armored soldiers as if made of so much paper before moving to the next victim)

To engrave the present onto eternity

Just this one feeling alone

Even if the form of what binds the two of us cannot remain.

(As Shez runs to the commander, a woman with white hair and wielding a mighty axe and tower shield, he only looks behind her, where the figure in white awaits him. Gritting his teeth, he pushes forward towards the final clash)

A/N: I live! Though life has been rough over these last few months, ESPECIALLY MARCH, I have managed to churn this out after wanting a bit more story and more Monica characterization than just 'Edelgard's thirstiest female simp'. Also more characterization for Shez and how they can really screw over with the Three Houses story even more!

So for chapter 2, to Garreg Mach and the Abyss we go!

Also, Blue Lions all the way! I do believe Edelgard was wrong and nobody can change my mind on that!

Also, this will be semi-realistic interpretations of nobles, mercenaries and politics. So expect a bit of backstabbing (mostly from Claude), people sleeping about, more blood and violence since peace was never an answer, etc.

I do not own Fire Emblem nor Ittou Ryouran, the former belongs to Intelligent Systems and Nintendo, the latter to Delight Works, Type-Moon and Lasengle.