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It was the middle of the night, the full moon was out, and it was silent except for the noises of nature. At an abandoned fort the Greil Mercenaries were camped in, a man was briefly looking out a window before getting ready to head out.
“ That… Black Knight… was that truly him? My former student…” The man thought to himself as he grabbed his sword Ettard.
He was ready to head out when someone was standing in the doorway. It was a woman with blue eyes and darker blue hair… It was his wife, Elena.
“Greil…. You're not going to do what I think you're going to do are you?” Elena asked.
Greil stood there in silence, not making eye contact with Elena.
“I have to do this. If that knight is who I think it is then I must confront him now or never…” Greil responded
Elena stood there briefly in silence before speaking.
“.... Let me come with you then.” She asked, clutching her staff in her hands.
“But what about the medallion? We can’t–” Greil tried to protest before being interrupted by Elena.
“I gave the medallion to Mist earlier for safe keeping. We both know she's the only other person who can safely hold it. Elena interrupted.
Greil sighed. She was right but he had one other concern.
“I don’t want to leave our children parentless… I don’t think Ike is ready for the life of a mercenary or to be a leader and Mist… they both should have better lives than this with at least one of us there with them.” Greil said rather somberly and unexpectedly.
Elena walked over to Greil and put her hand on his face and looked at him.
“Except both of us are going to walk away from this encounter... I can’t describe why I feel this way, but we will live to fight for a better life for us. For Them .” Elena told Greil as she had a moment with him.
The pair stood there for what seems like an eternity in that dark room before looking at each other and silently nodding at each other before heading off to face this Black Knight….
Sometime later
It was the middle of the night. The full moon was high up in the night sky being the only source of light. A warrior in black armor stood in a field, waiting for someone to arrive. Eventually he heard footsteps and turned around to be greeted by the sight of Greil or Gawain as he knew him.
“Ah yes General Gawain, one of the Riders of Daein I’ve been…. Is that?” The Black Knight spoke before being surprised by the appearance of Elena standing by her husband.
“Your voice…. I now know who you are for certain.” Greil said aloud while looking at the armor-clad warrior in front of him.
“It matters not, here take this blade and you’ll fare much better against me for the armor I wear was blessed by the goddess and there are few things that can damage it, this blade Ragnell being among them.” The Black Knight continued, throwing the golden blade Ragnell towards Greil. Greil and Elena looked at the blade in confusion.
“I thought you were here for the medallion?” Elena asked.
“I am…. But there are two other reasons as well, one: to fight my mentor at his full strength to see whether or not I have surpassed him and two: to be worthy of your attention…” The Black Knight replied, as he pointed his blade Alondite at the pair.
Greil and Elena were taken aback by those last words.
“What could he possibly mean by that? Worthy of our attention…” they thought to themselves as they looked at each other in confusion before The Black Knight spoke again.
“.... You wouldn’t understand… Now draw Ragnell and prepare to fight!” The Black Knight said with some slight anger and sadness as he got into a battle stance.
“Wait, we don't have to do this!” Elena cried out, trying to step forward before being stopped by Greil. He had a determined look on his face as he grabbed Ragnell and stepped forward to challenge the Black Knight.
“Don’t worry, I’ll just disarm him so we can get to the bottom of this.” Greil said while looking back at Elena, before taking a battle stance as well.
The warriors stood there in the moonlit field with Elena watching on, waiting for the other to make a move… until Greil spoke up.
“You think you can defeat me? The man who taught you how to fight? What a fool.” Greil said before rushing towards The Black Knight.
Greil went for an overhead slash, but the Black Knight blocked it with ease and then retaliated with a strike to Greil’s right side. Greil managed to barely block in time and backed off.
“I see that the armor doesn’t slow you down then.” Greil said to The Black Knight, though he was met with silence from the armor-clad warrior.
The Black Knight comes rushing in with a flurry of blows, each one coming in at a lightning-fast pace, but Greil manages to block most of them, though he wasn’t left unscathed. His clothes were ripped and bloody, but Greil wasn’t out yet. Greil managed to dodge one of the Black Knight’s attacks and managed to slash across the Black Knight’s chest plate. The force of the attack managed to send the Black Knight back a few feet and there was even a scar left on his armor.
“Yes, that’s the strength I’ve been waiting for… but let us end this duel.” The Black Knight said as he recovered from Greil’s attack and prepared his strongest attack: Luna.
“Very well..” Greil said as he prepared his strongest attack as well, blue flames enveloped both Greil and Ragnell.
Greil and Black Knight charged at each other with Elena watching in horror. Black Knight swung Alondite, enveloped in a dark blue energy, and attempted to hit Greil with the full force of Luna but he dodged the attack by tossing Ragnell up in the air and then jumping up to grab it.
“AETHER!” Greil screamed as he brought down Ragnell on The Black Knight’s helmet. The resulting blow emitted a bright flash of blue light and shook the surrounding area. The blow also knocked both Greil and Black Knight to ground, though The Black Knight seemed to have been knocked unconscious by the attack as he didn’t move to get up. Greil manages to get to one knee before being helped up by Elena, who was fine with her clothes being only the thing that got roughed up. The pair go and look over the Black Knight, his helmet was surprisingly still intact, though it now bore a large scar across the front of it. Greil kicked Alondite away from the Black Knight, just to be safe.
“What should we do with him? Elena asked Greil as she healed him with her staff.
“Well, we can’t just leave him… so let’s take him back to the fort.” Greil replied. Elena gave him an unsure look.
“...He won’t have his blade and the rest of the mercenaries will be there. And besides I thought you wanted to talk with him?” Greil continued.
“Well yes…” Elena replied.
“Then it’s decided!” Greil said as he got up and collected Ragnell & Alondite and put them in their sheaths and slung them over his shoulder before walking over to the Black Knight, grabbing him and starting to drag him toward the fort. Elena simply sighed before smiling and headed over to help her husband.
A few hours later
The morning light woke up The Black Knight, who realized he wasn’t lying in the field but a courtyard of a fort, surrounded by people. He couldn’t make out any distinctive features on them and couldn’t understand a word they were saying until one of them looked towards him with hand out.
“Come on, time to get up, Zelgius!” They said with their hand still reached out.
Zelgius was shaken, he didn’t expect to hear his actual name spoken but yet he still grabbed their hand and was helped to his feet. Zelgius could now see who everyone was around him, the one that helped him up was his mentor Gawain, or Greil as he was now known as, with his wife Elena standing next to him. To their left was their children: Ike and Mist. Behind them was the rest of the mercenaries: a trio of green haired brothers, a red-haired paladin, a wind mage who bared a strange mark on his forehead, a frail priest, a hyperactive myrmidon, a sniper and an armored knight, who were talking among themselves. Zelgius took off his helmet and looked at Greil and Elena.
“I… ah….” Zelgius could barely form any words.
“Come on, we got a lot to talk about.” Greil said as he beckoned Zelgius to follow him. Elena smiled at Zelgius
So Zelgius followed them into the fort where they would discuss many many things.