Chapter Text
The country of Altea was a magnificent one, full of wide, beautiful grassland and mountain ranges that spread far along its borders. Occupied mostly by various villages containing kind and considerate common folk, there, however, was a small, stone brick castle that resided near the Eastern border of this province.
This fortress of astounding beauty held four important inhabitants.
A venerable, yet ruthless ruler, King Cornelius, took pride in his leadership for his beloved country and did everything in his power to keep it and his family safe. Being a descendant of the renowned ruler many years before him, The Great Anri, the King wanted to keep up to those high expectations of his bloodline.
In contrast, his more delicate and humble wife, Queen Liza, tended more to her children because as a mother, she believed them to come first before anything. With her husband usually away traveling in order to keep their alliances in check or to take care of any unwelcoming bandits of notorious enemy territories, Liza Lowell spent her time instructing her daughter on the manners of women hospitality while she had her son keep up with his political studies of their country's history, as well as their own.
Now, Princess Elice cared deeply for both her mother and father, and she always did as told by the former, even though they don't usual entertain many royal guests due to her father's constant need for their protection and his little trust in others. However, there was no one the princess loved more than her younger brother. She rather spend her time assisting him in his learning and training than deal with dainty, womanly chores.
As the baby of the royal family, and the only son and future heir to the thrown of Altea, Prince Marth had many pressures lain upon his shoulders. Although he spent the majority of his time with the two most caring women in his life, his time with his father was a time not as pleasant, for King Cornelius relies on his youngest child to be the one to take his place one day. Therefore, he has his son of just eight years partake in sparring with his royal knights in training, and most infrequently, with his most trusted knight, Jagen.
Such a rare training session was in progress as the experienced, white-haired knight got in a simple hit with his wooden training sword on the young prince.
"Aaah-!"
Falling onto his behind, the small bluenette got back up on his feet, breathing heavily as he looked up at the older man.
"Jagen, I think that's enough. Give Marth a break."
The royal soldier looked over at the princess, laying down his weapon and abiding to her order.
"N-No...Elice I'm f-fine! I'm not tired yet!"
The sixteen-year-old chuckled lightly as she walked over to her brother with his water pouch.
"I beg to differ. Come on, drink some of this please."
Placing the spout of the waterskin to the younger boy's lips, Elice tipped it forward so he could start drinking the cool liquid to rehydrate.
Clearing his throat, Jagen quietly watched the two before commenting,
"Princess Elice. You're coddling him again."
Rolling her eyes as she took the pouch away from her sibling, she secured the lid back on before sitting herself back down on the stone steps beside the training area.
"Not my fault you're working him to exhaustion. He is just a child. He doesn't have the stamina of you or Father."
Marth looked back and forth between the older two people as he stood awkwardly with his play wooden sword in hand.
"I understand that Princess. But, imagine what Your Majesty would say if he saw such a sight. You know how much he despises such tenderness. Prince Marth must become independent. The exact opposite of what you've been teaching him."
The older sibling simply crossed her arms, scowling at the older man as he picked up his training sword again before allowing Marth to make the first move.
'I am still against Father's idea of how Marth should be treated. He is only eight-years-old for Anri's sake! The boy should be allowed to have some form of childhood, Prince or not.'
Trekking their way through the dense forest, the group of mercenaries finally found a clear opening and a small village beyond.
"Father, how much longer? My feet hurt."
A deep chuckle came from the man leading the front of the group of soldiers.
"Not much longer, Ike. Look, even Mist and Rolf still have enough energy left to run around."
Said children were chasing each other as they weaved through their small group of people.
After fighting a long, yet rewarding battle at Gra's border, Commander Greil of the Greil Mercenaries decided to lead his troop through the allying border, Altea, and find a place to rest for a day or so before getting on a ship and heading back to their homeland of Crimea.
Sighing in agitation, the ten-year-old bluenette pouted as he continued to trudge along beside his father as they made their way over to a village inn on the North side of the small town, where a castle could be seen just a few acres away.
As they approached the sweet looking innkeeper, two giggling five-year-olds made their way to the front of the group once more.
"Mist, Rolf, come here please!"
Chasing after his youngest brother and their commander's youngest child, Oscar finally grabbed an arm from each one before dragging them to the back of the group.
The young cavalier in training held tight to the two children so they didn't run off again, since they finally made it to their destination.
"Excuse us Miss, but would you have any space available for our lot?"
The blonde woman nodded kindly.
"Of course. Let me inform my staff that we will need a few rooms to be prepared and—,"
"Who lives there?"
Both Greil and the innkeeper peered down at the young boy pointing at the castle beyond the village.
"Ike!"
The young son of the leader of the Greil Mercenaries just shrugged his shoulders.
"What? It was just a question."
Greil sighed in agitation as he gave his oldest child a stern look.
"I do apologize madam. It appears my son here left his manners at home."
The woman chuckled as she smiled warmly at the two.
"That's quite alright," she looked down at an embarrassed Ike, "But, to answer your question young man. The King and the Queen live just over there, along with the Prince and the Princess of our kingdom."
The small bluenette scrunched his nose at that.
"Oh."
Greil gave his son a warning look at his attitude, although he understood its reasoning.
Being simple commoners themselves, and mercenaries on top of that, they didn't take too well with royals. And, it was always their best intention to keep a safe distance from their haughty arrogance.
"I didn't realize we traveled this close to royalty."
The innkeeper nodded,
"Yep! Sweet family, actually. Every once in a while the Prince and Princess will come into our village and buy some items from the shops."
Ike looked skeptical at that.
"Why would they have to get stuff here, when they could just buy much better things with all their money?"
Greil looked up at the sky in annoyance at how blunt Ike was being. He heard Titania and Oscar snicker behind him.
Even the blonde woman he was trying to converse with was finding humor in this. But, she continued to answer the mercenary's son's questions nonetheless.
"Well, I think it's because the Princess is just trying to expose her brother to the outside world. I'm sure it gets stuffy after being stuck inside a castle most of your life. And, the Prince is fairly young too, kind of around your age."
That suddenly sparked Ike's interest.
“Really? How—"
Placing a hand on his son's shoulder, Greil tried giving Ike his most patient look.
"I'm sure she can answer any questions you have—in the morning. It is getting quite late and last time I checked, someone's feet were hurting."
The young bluenette frowned up at the older man.
"But, Father—"
"No, buts young man. It is time for bed the moment our room is ready. Even Boyd is hardly able to stand."
Turning his head around, his father's words spoke true as Ike looked over at his twelve-year-old friend barely managing to keep his eyes open as he leaned against Oscar, while the latter was now holding a sleeping Rolf and Mist in his arms.
The son of the mercenary grumbled as he turned back around as him and his father followed the innkeeper inside.
"Ha! Pinned ya again!"
"Ugh! Boyd, get off!"
Rolling off of his friend, the dark, green-haired boy smirked down at the other before offering his hand.
Taking it, Ike grabbed it before he suddenly jerked his arm back, pulling the older boy onto the ground with him before climbing on top of him.
"Now, who's got who?"
With a grunt, the taller boy wrestled his way out from under Ike and easily pinned the bluenette once more, looking smugly down at the other in triumph.
The younger boy rolled his eyes in his defeat when a voice suddenly called out to them,
"Boyd! Come on! Rolf and I are ready to head out to the shops now!"
The two friends separated as they looked over at Oscar waving his younger brother over.
"I'm coming!" The green-haired boy called out before looking at his companion.
"We will finish this later, Ike. Bossy big brother needs me to help get supplies before we board our ship tomorrow morning."
With that, the older boy ran off to his other two siblings.
Sighing in disappointment, Ike got up before he made his way back to the front of the inn, where he saw his father and Titania discussing advancement strategies for whatever their next mission will be back home.
"Father, I'm bored."
Greil glanced over at his son's pouting face before looking out into the field beside the tavern.
"Why don't you go spend time with your sister?"
Ike looked over to see Mist picking out every flower she saw in the open terrain.
He gave his father a pout, causing the older man to laugh.
"Or, you can just sit here and mope."
Titania chuckled at that as she watched her commander's son's face scrunch up in annoyance.
"Father!"
Greil chuckled before coming up with another suggestion,
"Maybe one of the village children will want to play with you."
Ike grumbled at that before an idea suddenly popped into his head.
Without another word, he left his father and his second-in-command in the dust as he ran off.
Wooden sword clashed into wooden sword as the young knight in training playfully fought against the Altean Prince.
Getting back into his proper stance, the red-headed teen jabbed his sword lightly into the younger child's side, causing him to fall back onto his bum.
"Aw, Cain! You said you were gonna let me have the final blow!"
A sigh came from the older man watching the two sparring boys.
"Prince Marth, you cannot expect your enemies to go easy on you in battle. They are not your friends."
Cain scoffed at his overseer.
"Oh, come on Jagen. His training is practically done for the day! We're just having some fun before he's gotta go study again."
Crossing his arms over his chest, the head knight didn't say anything else as he made his way back towards the castle, trusting his trainee, along with Abel, to keep an eye on the Prince and Princess while he meets up with the King.
Turning his attention back to the younger boy, the knight in training raised his wooden sword once more.
"Come on buddy, I'll let you get the drop on me this time. I promise."
Marth smirked at that before grabbing his sword and standing back up. Then, he charged at the taller boy,
"Haaa!"
Unbeknownst to the two fighters in the makeshift training circle, a curious pair of cobalt eyes was watching them from behind some bushes close to the forest line.
They centered on the smaller bluenette who seemed to be struggling to keep his balance as he sparred with the older boy.
An uneasy feeling suddenly came upon Elice as she was watching her brother spar with Cain, as if someone else was watching them, too.
Turning her head slowly to the forest beside them, the Altean Princess didn't seem to find anything out of the ordinary until her eyes laid upon a spiky blue head that was failing to keep itself hidden behind a pair of bushes.
Smirking softly, she got up and made her way over to the young boy.
Noticing the girl started walking towards him, Ike started backing up until he tripped over a tree root in the ground, falling over as he did so.
"Oof!"
Chuckling lightly, Elice reached out her hand.
"This isn't quite the best hiding place, I'm afraid. Are you lost?"
Flustered, the ten-year-old cleared his throat before he took the older teen's hand, allowing her to help him up.
"N-No...um I-I mean—!" The shorter bluenette started before everyone else came jogging over.
"Elice? Who is that?"
Marth stopped beside his older sister as he looked over at the young boy in front of her.
His cheeks tinted pink as he made eye contact with the darker bluenette.
If his face wasn't already red enough from embarrassment, Ike's own cheeks flared up some more when those sapphire orbs locked onto his own.
"Well, I am not sure. He hasn't even told me why he was sneaking over here in the first place."
They all turned to the young newcomer in question.
The young son of a mercenary gulped before scratching the back of his head.
"M-My name is...uh...I-Ike. I wasn't trying to be sneaky...I-I just...I just wanted someone to play with! 'Cause Father thought that picking flowers with my little sister was a good idea, and no way was that happening!"
Marth giggled at the older boy's audacious attitude.
Ike smiled softly at the other’s laughter, finding it to be quite cute.
Elice noticed the silent interaction between her brother and this strange boy, and smirked.
"Do you want to play with us? Marth here would probably love to have a sparring partner around his age."
Ike nodded excitedly at that. He even had his own play wooden sword attached to his belt loop.
"Wait, Princess Elice. Are you sure this is a good idea?"
Said girl looked over at the knight in training and waved off his concern.
"He is just a boy, Cain. I don't believe he means any harm."
And with that, Marth grinned before he grabbed the darker bluenette's hand and ran back to the training area with him.
The three teens watched as the two giggling boys ran ahead of them, hand-in-hand.
"Prince Marth, straighten your posture. Ike is gonna knock you down again if you don't hold your stance properly," Abel chided gently to the younger boy.
Marth nodded with a grunt as the darker bluenette charged at him again, their play wooden swords clacking together.
"There ya go. The more you keep yourself up, the more likely you are to succeed in combat, kiddo."
The two children had been sparring together as the other three looked on for about an hour now, where the two knights in training gave out pointers to both boys to help them out and keep them on their toes.
Ike swung his sword once more towards Marth's side, but the younger boy kept his footing as he blocked the hit just in time with his own wooden sword.
The older child grinned at the young prince, proud that his new friend was starting to get better at this.
Marth returned a shy smile of his own.
"Nice Marth!" Elice exclaimed.
The green and red teens beside her grinned with pride at their trainee's progress.
"Okay boys, have some more water. We may have to call it a day soon, however, because Marth does need to get in some learning before dinner."
Both children nodded before walking over to the princess and taking gulps from Marth's water pouch.
"You two take a breather for a bit. You boys have been working hard," Cain told the two young bluenettes.
With that, Ike and Marth sat down by some shrubs a little ways away from Elice and took some time to get to know one another.
"You're pretty nice for a Prince."
The lighter bluenette gave him a quizzical look.
"What do you mean?"
Ike gave him a wary side glance.
"Well, usually royalty is real nasty to Father and I because we're commoners. But, you let me play with you."
Marth nodded in understanding.
"Oh...well, that's not very nice. I don't like mean people either. And, my Father says I can't play with the village kids 'cause they're 'dirty.' But, I don't understand what he means nor do I agree with him. 'Cause you're really nice too and super fun to play with!"
The son of a mercenary smiled at the other before smirking as he abruptly tackled him.
"I-Ike! What are you doing?!"
The older boy giggled as the two started to grapple on the ground.
"It's called wrestling! My friend Boyd and I play it all the time! You gotta try and push me off and pin my shoulders to the ground!"
Marth laughed as he went along with it and tried shoving the stronger boy off of him.
"Y-You're crazy! Is this some form of battle strategy training?!"
The darker bluenette smirked, giving leeway as he let the younger boy crawl on top of him.
"No! It's just for fun! It's what 'dirty village boys' do."
The young Prince of Altea laughed at that as he continued play fighting with the taller child.
"Boys! That is not what I call resting! Please be careful!"
Both young bluenettes turned their attention towards Elice's worried face before they continued laughing and rolling around in the dirt.
"MARTH LOWELL!"
Gasping loudly, said boy jumped away from Ike as he stood at attention as an extremely angry King Cornelius came marching over with a disapproved Jagen in tow.
The ten-year-old stood up as well, taking a step back behind his new companion.
"What is the meaning of this?! Cain, Abel, you were given specific orders to keep these two away from intruders! Back to your posts, now!" Jagen berated angrily.
The red and green pair ducked their heads in apology before quickly making their exit towards the castle doors.
Jagen followed his trainees behind as he left His Majesty alone with his children and their new friend.
Said man turned towards his daughter,
"Young lady, how could you let Marth mingle with such filth?! You should know better! Back to the castle this instant. Your mother is already waiting for you."
"But, Father—,"
"NOW, Elice!"
Said girl sulked before glancing over towards her terrified brother and his friend, giving them a sympathetic glance before hurrying away.
"And, you," King Cornelius sneered down at his youngest child, "what kind of descendant of Anri considers such grotesque commoners acceptable people to fraternize with?!"
"Father, I—!"
Grasping his son's right arm harshly, the ruler of Altea yanked the shorter bluenette towards him,
"SILENCE! You will be punished greatly for this Marth. You should know better! You were supposed to be training!"
Said boy whimpered in his father's harsh grip as he looked over to his companion.
Ike's face showed fear, but it slowly became filled with anger as he saw how the man in front of him was handling his new friend.
"As for you, young man. I suggest you leave this instant. You have no right to be in the presence of royalty. Now scram!"
The son of a mercenary grit his teeth as he measured the King's glare with a dirty look of his own, holding his ground.
Until he looked at the younger boy's fearful face.
Marth gave him a pleading look as he mouthed out to the other boy silently,
'Go.'
Ike scrunched his face in disapproval before looking back up at the older man hurting his friend. After a moment he finally gave in to the other boy's plea and ran off.
His Majesty sighed angrily as he looked down at his son trembling in his strong grip.
"Come along, Marth. Time to teach you your place, pathetic weakling."
The young boy gulped as his father dragged him back towards the castle.
As they approached the doors, they could see Cain and Abel being scolded loudly by Jagen.
Both teens peered at Marth, giving said boy sympathetic glances knowing that his penance was going to be much worse than their own.
With that, the King pulled his son along into the fortress, slamming the large doors shut behind them.