Warriors | Part I // SSB AU Fanfic

15

After two weeks on the sea, they finally arrived in Crimea. They met up with Queen Elincia and her army, as well as the rest of the Greil Mercenaries, all of which were mildly confused. They departed Elincia's castle and headed to Serenes Forest, where the battle had moved onto during the past couple of weeks. It had some to Elincia's attention that the affected laguz had been slowly marching their way there, for what reason, she didn't know, but she could only assume that whatever was controlling them was stationed there. And so, she'd called upon Ike, that strongest person she knew, to go further into the forest and get be rid of whatever was harming her laguz allies.

She sat upon her pegasus and soared into the air, facing her army as she raised up a staff. "Our goal today is to destroy whatever may be controlling our laguz friends and free them of their suffering. Let us avoid as much bloodshed as possible and win!" The army cheered and set off into the forest, the battle itself starting almost immediately due to the large amount of unhinged laguz present within the area.

Ike watched as his fellow beorc fought against the laguz, both sides fighting against their will. He stifled a sigh and unsheathed his sword just as his friend and tactician walked up to him, a stern look on his face. "You're thinking about heading straight in, aren't you?"

Ike chuckled. "Of course I am, Soren. I wanna get this over with as quickly as possible."

"You're usually at least a bit tactical, and yet now you're throwing yourself into a pit of death, willingly. Why?" Soren asked, worry painted on his eyes.

"I want to keep everyone safe. I want our ties to remain friendly, at least, and to do that, we need to defeat whatever's controlling them quickly," Ike said as he put his hand on Soren's shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll have Peach and Sam there to back me up. Peach is a really talented healer, and Samus is a great fighter. I'm sure we'll defeat whoever this person might be quickly and easily."

Soren frowned. "Ike, you said you met with the Black Knight, didn't you? You don't think he's probably the one controlling the laguz?"

"No, someone else is controlling him. He's dead after all, how could he come back to life just like that? If anything, whoever's controlling him probably sent him out to control the laguz," Ike said.

"I stand corrected."

"I suppose. Anyway, I'll be back soon, I'm counting on you and the rest to take care of things here." Soren sighed, still feeling like this was a bad idea. He wanted to convince Ike to not do this, but knowing how stubborn he was, he knew there was no point in trying to.

"I wish you good luck then," Soren said as he walked away to join the rest of the mercs. Ike watched him as he left, heaving a heavy sigh. He looked at Peach and Samus, who were standing not too far off, and signaled them to follow him as he went straight into the battle.

First thing that happened? A severed head hit him right on the chest. He froze as it bounced off his body and dropped to the ground. Their face was covered in deep, jagged slashes, their neck had an uneven bone sticking out of it, showing just how unclean the cut was.

He shut his eyes tightly as he charged at the laguz who had caused this. They were transformed, their eyes were glowing red and blood dripped from their teeth as they growled at Ike. They got into a battle stance and jumped at him, baring their fangs as they aimed for Ike's neck. He dodged them then used the hilt of his sword to smack them right in the head, knocking them out.

"I think I've seen enough decapitated heads for the rest of my life," Peach groaned, putting her hand over her mouth to prevent herself from vomiting.

"It's not an uncommon thing, unfortunately," Ike said.

They continued onwards, fighting and attempting to subdue the laguz. The closer they got to the middle of the forest, the more they saw as the laguz around them became calmer, like they were falling further into control of their puppet master. Thinking about the reasons made Ike wish more and more that he could kill whoever was doing this to them. They were either closer to the source, so the puppet master had more control over them since they weren't so far away. Or, the laguz had become so tired of fighting on and on for days that they were ready to submit themselves to the puppet master if it meant they could rest. It broke his heart that the prideful laguz were wore down to this point.