Darna

[Santino]

I wrote this a few weeks ago, planning it to stretch 20 pages but it ended up with only 5 (in Word). I'm not really satisfied with it. Be aware that this contains some violent stuff (not in the cartoon way). Any comments are very welcome in this thread.

The story takes place maybe a year after the end of FE4's first half, and probably may spoil stuff if you haven't played the game. Backstory:

Lex, Sylvia and Claude fled the Battle of Barhara together and have been hiding various places in the Yied Desert. After months they hear that Hannibal is stationed in Darna. Claude, who knows hannibal, thinks they should seek Hannibal's help, so they all go to Darna. Oh, and Claude is sick.

Leene is Claude and Sylvia's daughter (about three years old here), and Corple is their son (about three months old).

Edit: Copypasting ruined the paragraphs... I'm too lazy to fix them.

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Five people and one horse were approaching a city in the lush area near the Yied desert. Claude was sitting on the horse with Leene while Sylvia was walking with Corple and Lex was guiding the horse with a rope. They were all tired, having been travelling since morning, and their food supplies were running low. Claude was the most tired yet still the most optimistic; he hadn’t fully healed yet but he was anxious to see the city again.

“Finally,” he said. “We’re here, the great city of Darna, the place of the miracle!” He looked at Sylvia, then at Lex, as if hoping one of them would comment, but went on when neither did. “It has been way too long since I set foot here. Feeling the city’s presence, I regret that I avoided it during the war. I hope it hasn’t changed much.”

Lex turned to look at him. “I feel something special too.” He walked silently, in his own mind for a moment before going on. “Are you sure we’re not too optimistic about Hannibal? I mean, we’re Lenster’s allies so I doubt Thracia will want to let us talk to him if they recognize us. And meeting him without going through the main door would be very hard.”

Claude looked away when Lex stopped speaking and started staring mindlessly at Darna’s buildings. By looking at him, Lex got the feeling that Claude maybe had been unrealistically optimistic to turn up their spirits. Lex knew for sure that he had been so himself.

“I have an alias,” Claude said, grabbing eye contact again. Lex’ eyes flinched for a second. “I have been meeting Hannibal using the name Rufus Blude. Hannibal has told his subordinates that mister Blude is a Grandbellian noble spying for Thracia and the lie seems to have worked well. Normally King Trabant would have been suspicious about a Grandbellian meeting one of his generals regularly, but Hannibal has managed to make it seem harmless. I am sure we will get to see Hannibal easily using my alias.”

Lex went silent as if processing the information.

“You should plan it beforehand, just in case.” Sylvia spoke with a concerned voice. “You never know what might happen. I know you’re good at these things, but please don’t just improvise.”

Claude looked at Sylvia, lowering his eyes as if it was more difficult to speak to her. “I will plan it, dear, believe me about that. I know as well as both you two that times are unstable and people act differently than they use to. I will be as careful as I can.”

Sylvia didn’t respond. They had talked about it many times before, and she was aware of how it had to be even if she didn’t like it. Reaching Hannibal, and telling him everything, was the best they could possibly manage to do at the moment.

As they walked into town, they were all glad to notice that people didn’t pay much attention to them. It wouldn’t have been odd if they had been of public interest. Their clothes were worn and dirty and so were the people within. This was especially noticeable in Claude who was wearing a fine white shirt made for nobility, which was now torn and filled with dirt. Being very pricy, few people would usually wear such a shirt during long treks. Sylvia and Lex’ clothes were less interesting, though Lex was slightly limping and both were bruised.

Darna was fabulous; the kingdoms had made sure to make it a real landmark after the war against Galle. The town walls were sturdy and geometrically perfect, and bordering the walls on the inside were large gardens and parks with almost no buildings blocking them. The road from the town gate into town was heavily decorated both with nice stones and flowers, and in the direction of the castle the travelers could see several buildings as tall as the castle itself. Three of those buildings were churches, from what Claude had told Sylvia. Lex had heard it many times during childhood.

“Ah, it is so good to see the golden shine of Narga’s Cathedral!” Claude was ecstatic, having his eyes firmly on the enormous churches. The building really was shining, sparkling, like golden plates.

“They didn’t really cover it with gold, did they?” Sylvia was consumed by the sight as well.

“No, they found a special mix of plants and metal to make a special paint which looks that way. But just look at how well it works! Though this is a material item, it really makes me feel the spirit of the Miracle which happened here.” Claude didn’t seem much distracted by Sylvia talking.

Lex had seen this before and had his thoughts in other places. “I think we should find a place to stay. Maybe it would be suspicious if the general invited three rugged strangers with children with rooms to stay in. That, and I’m tired and want to rest before we go to meet him.”

“I guess you’re right,” Claude answered, looking down at Lex. “Could you take Leene? I want to use my feet on this road.”

Lex helped Leene down, and then he helped Claude down as well. Claude drew a big breath of fresh air, looking around himself, and then started walking towards the castle. Then he collapsed on the road.

“Claude!” Sylvia yelled instantly, hurriedly passing Corple over to Lex and kneeling down by her husband. Lex stood there, calming Corple who was upset by the shock while trying to see if Sylvia could figure out what was happening. He then tried to see if anyone were coming to help – but people were walking right by as if nothing special had happened.

“He’s breathing, but he’s not awake,” Sylvia said in a calm, scared voice. “He got some bruises from the fall, but he didn’t hit his head.”

Lex nodded, and looked around again. They really needed some sort of shelter where Claude could rest, preferably a room for rent. Lex realized they had been so focused on the buildings near the castle that they hadn’t paid much thought to the area they were in now. It was calmer, with dozens of normal-sized houses and a few shops around them.

“Hey, you!” he said to three young men walking by. The men looked surprised, but stopped and began looking at the company of five. “We really could use some help here.” Lex tried not to sound bitter, though he was. “My friend here has fainted and needs a room to rest. Could you please help us find one and carry him to it?”

Luckily, the three men agreed, though they seemed like they would have been more pleased if they had refused. One of the men pointed to an inn nearby and a while later everything and everyone was brought into a fair room.

“Thank you.” Lex had got his breath back as he greeted the men away, giving them some money for the trouble. Looking around, he saw that Claude was awake, lying in the bed they had put him in. Sylvia was sitting by his side, speaking with Claude in a low voice.

“Must have been the excitement,” Claude said so Lex could hear it. “I guess I just forgot how tired I was and the feeling of this place gave me fake energy. I think I need to stay in bed for a couple of hours before we go find Hannibal.” The look on his face said he didn’t really believe he would be able to do so.

“You need to rest at least until tomorrow!” Sylvia said, and Claude’s face seemed to take it as confirmation.

“I guess so... It really is a pity.” Claude sighed, looking around the room aimlessly. Lex came to sit down on a chair by the bed, and as he sat he fell deeper into the chair, surprised by the relaxation. Sylvia laid down in the bed with Claude.

“Are the children okay?” Claude asked.

“Leene is sleeping in the other bed, and Corple is sleeping in a basket they gave me. Just relax, dear.” Sylvia was calming down.

As he was sitting there, Lex took his first real look at the room they were renting. It was of course of a much lower quality than the royal quarters he had been used to but it was a decently sized room for three adults and two children. Everything was clean, and there were two beds and a table with chairs. The room had one window which still lit the room with the late afternoon sun, and a desk pushed against the wall right beneath it. Across the floor was all the stuff the party had gotten with them on the trip, most of it being water, clothes and Claude’s personal possessions. Lex had put his Hero Axe under one of the beds so the children couldn’t reach it, and the reserve staff stood leaned against the wall.

After a while, Claude fell asleep. Lex remembered that there was shops right outside, so he went out to buy some food and returned half an hour later. Sylvia and Lex ate some of the food, and Sylvia fell asleep. Lex laid down on the carpet on the floor and fell asleep as well.

The next morning, all of them ate a good portion of bread, cheese and milk and they were full for the first time in days. Leene was as cheery as she used to be again, more lively than she had been in weeks. Claude could barely keep his balance on the floor, however, so he had to stay in bed. He had woken up with a fever, and was depressed at the thought of not being in the shape to go meet Hannibal. Sylvia and Lex refused to let him go out when he suggested doing so, and he knew inside that it would in fact turn out bad. So they decided to stay in the room until he got better. Lex took Leene out to see the city that day, while Sylvia stayed inside with Claude and Corple.

The next day, Claude was neither worse nor better, so they decided to keep waiting. Lex went out the whole day again, this time looking around military areas while trying to go unnoticed. Later he went to shops, discreetly mentioning General Hannibal to the shopkeepers while buying something. He found out that the general was most likely to be found in a military command center in the eastern portion of town, and that the general would be staying in Darna for at least one more month. When he returned that day he was sort of glad that they hadn’t rushed into the castle asking for Hannibal on the first day. He went on to discuss things with Sylvia and Claude, and they concluded the best thing would probably be to simply ask at the main door of the eastern command center, with Claude using his alias.

The third and fourth days the situation was still unchanged and all of them were getting restless. When Claude’s fever was the same the fifth day, Lex decided not to wait any longer.

“I’ll go alone,” he announced that morning. He kept on before anyone could interrupt. “I’ll say Blude sent me to talk to Hannibal, and if they question it I’ll say it should be up to the general to make such conclusions.”

Claude thought for a moment. “Are you sure? You never know what might happen. The guards might find you very suspicious.”

“I know, but I have to. We knew we were taking a risk by coming here, I’m just making the risk a little bit larger. And if I get to meet him, he can probably find a way to cure your fever and injuries.”

Claude had doubted in Lex’ judgment earlier, but now he knew that it was at least on par with his own, so he let him go. Sylvia was more skeptical, but she too knew that it might be the only way to make the trip worth it. Her biggest fear was that Claude could get worse, and it was much safer to get a cure by Hannibal than to try some doctor in town.

So Lex left the room alone, trying to think about the architecture in town to avoid getting nervous about the coming encounter which could be lethal for him. This was what he had been planning on for weeks, since that day Claude had mentioned the secrets of General Hannibal. But Claude had been supposed to be the man taking contact, Claude was the man who knew everything, so this was going to be hard.

Lex had bought some very nice clothes at an extremely high price to extend the impression of being a nobleman, and he thought that it would be very convincing as long as he used his real dialect. Claude had told him what Claude thought to be the most helpful information, but as Claude hadn’t met Hannibal in years and knew nothing of what the general was doing in Darna, it wasn’t enough to make Lex feel safe. And, he thought, what if he got to meet the general but the general thought of him as an impostor?

What about that? Lex felt like an idiot, not having thought about that earlier, having trusted maybe too much in Hannibal’s will to help. What if Hannibal had him taken to the dungeons on the spot? His marks of Neir would be found, and he would be a very valuable prisoner to Thracia. Maybe he would be transferred to Grandbell as a peace offering, and executed by Alvis as a public example. Or maybe Trabant would have him killed himself. This day was in so many ways going to be a day of determination for Lex’ life.

After a long walk, Lex was there, outside the Thracian command centre. He felt like standing right there, behind a corner maybe, for hours. He did know that doing that would only make him perform worse though, so he decided he was ready to act. And he had decided how to do it.

The main entrance had two guards, and the door was closed shut. The guards were both armed and armored, though they were armored lightly and thus capable of making a pursuit. Lex walked straight up to them and allowed the guards to make the first word.

“Hello sir, what do you come here for?” The guard who was speaking was acting polite, maybe recognizing Lex as a nobleman. Lex regretted that he hadn’t shaved his beard.

“I wish to see General Hannibal. My name is Rufus Blude.”

The guards glanced at each other immediately at hearing the name.

“Please step inside, Mister Blude!” The guard who had spoken earlier opened the doors, while the other accompanied Lex inside. The guard who had opened the doors quickly ran up some stairs ahead and another couple of soldiers went to guard the main door.

Lex was guided up along two somewhat long corridors and into a dining room, where the guard told him to wait. This was somewhat unusual, Lex thought, sitting down at an empty table an glancing at another table where several soldiers were eating. Lex had never before been in Thracia and knew little of their customs, but he felt sure that being greeted into a dining room was not normal. Maybe it was something special for spies, to take away attention, though he was definitely not blending well with the commoners in the room.

He was thinking about the oddity of the situation, feeling relaxed about thinking about it. He was perfectly aware that this was the first time he was ever under cover, and that if any of these people found out there would be no possible escape. But he somehow managed to push that to the back o his mind, instead thinking about what would be practical to figure out.

He noticed footsteps behind him, and as he turned around he saw a very familiar-looking man. The man was heavily decorated and looking straight at him.

“Ah, Rufus! It’s been so long! Please come this way.”

The man had to be General Hannibal, and Lex realized that he had seen the man before in Dozel. It had been a meeting where Lex’ father was hiring some Thracian dragon knights to stop bandits. They hadn’t spoken to each other at that time, but there was no doubt that this was the man. Hannibal was young for a general, maybe five years older than Lex, and carried a kind of controlled face that made him very recognizable. He was clean shaved with long, brown hair, and seemed to have an extreme authority over the soldiers. Several of the people on the nearby table flinched and set up straight the moment they noticed his presence.

As Lex followed the man he felt unsure about Hannibal had referring to him as Rufus in such a friendly manner, knowing Lex wasn’t Claude. But he felt safe now, the general had lied in front of his own men for Lex’ sake so something had to be going right. Lex only smiled and hoped he wouldn’t have to talk in front of anyone else, and luckily he was drawn into an empty office room soon afterwards.

They both sat down, and Hannibal was suddenly emotionless.

“General Hannibal.” Lex said.

The general was more direct. “I was ecstatic at hearing about Sir Blude coming. But I’m surprised to see you instead, Lord Lex.”

Lex didn’t know to think of this as an accusation or not, but trusting Claude he felt that he could be honest with this man.

“So you do recognize me,” he said, smiling a little. “I’ll be direct, general. Claude sent me. He was going to come himself, but he is sick and needs help. He believes that you are one of the people that can do something to help, now that we have all become refugees.”

Hannibal smiled.

“Thank Dain! When you came, I thought he was dead. Please, where can I find him?”

Lex was surprised at how easy it had been, but soon the two of them were heading towards the room where Claude and Sylvia were staying.

Fifteen minutes after Lex left Claude and Sylvia, two men were walking into the inn, armed with swords. They killed the clerk, and went straight to the room where Sylvia and Claude were. Claude was sound asleep, and Sylvia was washing the table with Leene when the door burst open.

“Who the-“ Sylvia started as she saw the two figures, but one of them was already walking into the room and he pushed her forcefully into the wall.

“It will be easier to get him with us if we kill him,” the other, slightly thicker one said. Sylvia gave out a shriek and ran towards the man, trying to ram him, but the thinner man grabbed her and held her against the wall.

“Do it,” the thinner one said as he easily held onto the screaming woman. Leene had run to hide in a corner, and Corple had waked up and started crying.

The thicker man looked down at Claude who had just woken from the sounds. The man almost looked like he was sorry, and just as Claude realized what was going on he was stabbed through the heart.

Sylvia shrieked even louder, but fell over and stopped struggling as she was crying uncontrollably. The thinner man held his head at a distance to avoid the sound, until he thought of wrapping a piece of cloth he found around Sylvia’s mouth to stop some of it. She struggled again desperately, trying with all her might to get away but he stopped her.

“What do we do with this one?” he yelled.

“Just stop the damn screaming!” yelled the thicker one, who was staring at Claude’s corpse.

The thinner one turned Sylvia around and cut her throat. Corple was still crying but the room felt silent to them now.

“It’s a shame though,” the thicker one said, looking at her dead, bleeding body. “She was really cute.” The other one nodded. “So do we take the baby?” the thicker one said.

“Forget the baby. Don’t you see it’s got an older sister?” The thinner one was looking at Leene, who was sitting petrified in the corner, as the blood of her mother was reaching her feet. “I’ll take the girl down to Rodd and the cart, and we’ll come back for the priest afterwards. Take the Valkyrie Staff, will you?”

The thinner one carried Leene, now screaming, down to a cart which stood parked outside. The thicker one took the reserve staff, and afterwards they came back and carried Claude’s body to the same cart. They left Corple and the clerk’s and Sylvia’s bodies behind.

A couple of hours later Lex and Hannibal came to the scene.

Edited November 17, 2009 by Biney

[Squidorsky]

(Not sure if i'm supposed to post here but) this is really good! I really enjoyed this, please continue! I like reading fanfics like this of Fe4( My favorite FE). Can't wait for more!!

Edited November 18, 2009 by sasuun

[Santino]

Well, I have several incomplete ones and am working with one now, but I'm kinda slow at this :/ Will post though.

[Santino]

Another very short story. This is a totally different part of the Jugdral story though I'm not making a new topic.

This takes place right after Celice's army comes to Lenster's aid and people are pretty much very happy in the castle.

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Nanna was sitting alone in the hall. The room was filled with people walking and running in all directions, people enjoying themselves, people eating and people arguing, but Nanna barely noticed them in her relaxation. She had just realized that this was the first time since she were in Fiana that she felt absolutely safe, and she had no business to attend to. So she was in a perfect mood.

She was looking at the neverending movements of people in front of her, without moving her glare in any directions. Every once in a while a familiar face would pop up, walk by and disappear. She had just seen Othin. Or maybe it was Halvan; she didn’t really remember or care. Oh, and there was Eda running stressed across the view. Further back was Mareeta walking calmly followed by some man with blonde hear. The man looked somewhat familiar, probably some soldier from the city. They were navigating through the masses, talking about something, and Nanna realized they were walking towards her.

She met Mareeta’s glance and noticed that Mareeta looked very happy. So did the man, though he also looked nervous. He was looking at the people around Nanna, saying something to Mareeta. Then Mareeta pointed directly at Nanna, and the man looked Nanna straight in the eyes. Nanna felt odd, like they were going to tell her something important.

Mareeta reached Nanna first. “This man wants to talk to you,” she said, almost laugh-crying and turning around to look at the man. His smile had vanished and he looked much more nervous.

“Nanna?” the man said and reached out his hand. He sounded a little like Ares. She took his hand. “I believe you are my sister. My name is Delmud.”

She didn’t know the expression on her face but judging by Delmud’s newly found smile she guessed she was smiling as well. She dropped the hand and threw herself forward to hug him.

[Squidorsky]

Short...but sweet! You need to continue these!!!

[Santino]

Thanks :)

I have some more up, but I probably won't be putting any more on Serenes. I uploaded the rest here. Any new ones I write will end up there as well.