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The Mercenary (Beautiful_Disgrace and I)

"Us," Ike corrected, sitting down as he began to make a fire. "And yes, Ragnell..thank you, that would be good. And please remember enough for two." He wasn't the only one getting slightly grated for it. Her loyalty was admirable, it honestly was...but then again. Ike wasn't too surprised, given the fact that they had literally been inseparable for the past few years. Still, it'd be nice to have Ragnell away for a bit. She was getting slightly better at not being attached to Ike's back. He and Zelda didn't exactly have to worry about her nosing in, but that didn't mean it felt like she wasn't.

...Slightly. Yesterday, she lasted five minutes instead of three. It was progress, one that he'd take.
 
"Oh, yes. Two people..." Ragnell looked over to Zelda. She didn't really look too good, and even though Ragnell liked Ike way much better she still worried somewhat about the Queen. She wasn't really as resilient as she thought she was, at least not in the forest. Though she didn't waste too much time, and she scampered off in search for prey.

"I hope she doesn't bring us poisonous berries again." Zelda chuckled a bit and wiped the sweat from her brow as she looked up at Ike. "You seem to be doing well. You must be use to these types of travels."
 
"It takes some getting used to," Ike said, offering his canteen with a polite smile. "Here, you need to stay hydrated...small sips," he reminded. "...I apologize about Ragnell, even though this is...a new experience for me, too." he sighed. "She means well, however...but I suppose if a sword had a personality...they would be loyal to it's owner." A bizarre thing to be okay with, even if Ike's mind wandered to thoughts that seemed far too casual, but why did they? It almost felt like they...had done that sort of thing already, even when Ike knew that wasn't true. It had been quite a long time since he was with anyone.
 
"It's alright. I don't blame her for wanting to tend to the need of her master. Especially one as kind and handsome as you." Zelda drank slowly before closing his canteen and handing it back to him. She wasn't shy, she did enjoy complimenting the man every once in a while, even if it was just with a casual glance. "We should be getting closer to the dessert. It's rather hot. Tomorrow I'll be using my disguise since we should be running into the dessert by mid day tomorrow."
 
"...Very well," Ike murmured. "...You flatter me too much, Zelda...or is that because I embarrassed myself at the castle?" he sighed, rubbing his head. She...definitely got an eyeful...it was hard to forget the look on her face when her eyes...browsed.
 
"Don't be embarrassed. You had nothing to be embarrassed about. I don't see that kind of physique within my own people..that's why I stared." She winked at him and then sighed softly. It was very hot...and Ragnell was completely stark naked...maybe he wouldn't mind if she showed a little skin.
 
"...I noticed," Ike mumbled, trying not to sound embarrassed and failing miserably as he started to get the fire going with a satisfying crackle. "I suppose I'll take it as a compliment...I just figured since you're a Queen..." There would be...a King?
 
Zelda tilted her head and then laughed a bit. "A queen..? A queen cannot admire a man? I'm just as much of a woman as any other, Ike." In Hyrule, she did not need a King to be a Queen. In truth, Zelda had never thought about a husband. Even though that evil man had always enjoyed threatening that he would one day make her his wife. More like prisoner.
 
"Well, it often doesn't work that way in many places," Ike murmured. "While it is true...you need no one, I just...assumed, forgive me." he said, sitting back on their makeshift seat of a log. "I suppose I shouldn't be making assumptions about a place I know so little about." And perhaps he wasn't quite sure how to take a Queen being interested in him. That was also possible, or the actual reality.
 
She arched her eyebrows as she continued to rest her stiff back against the tree. "You assumed..what? That I was not a woman with needs? Now she was being a little...well promiscuous. But she couldn't help herself. He was so bashful and she was attracted to him. Ever since she had first met him actually...he was...different. "Say...Ike. Do you still see Ragnell as...a sword? Or do you view her as a woman?"
 
"I see her as a partner," Ike said, scratching his cheek in thought as he tried to avoid her first question. Ike was bold in many things, women was not one of them. Purely through lack of experience, not so much...interest. "...For whatever that term means now," he admitted. "I have memories, Zelda...memories of battles long fought with only her to rely on, I understand her better than I understand myself. All of my lessons in swordplay helped me little when I wielded her, it felt as if I simply knew." he said, head cocked a little.

"To say I care about her is...an understatement," he agreed. "...But suddenly, all of my memories of her...of us, feel different." Was it love? No, he was quite certain it wasn't that...or maybe it was. All he knew, it was the strongest bond he was ever comfortable with admitting. "If it were anyone else, she would have driven me to jump into a river...but I trust my gut, it tells me that Ragnell is not like this, she's just...new to being able to explain her thoughts, her wants. Like a child."
 
Zelda listened to him quiet, watching his expression. To her it sounded like love. She wondered if or rather when she grew up a little...would she be the type of woman Ike would want? It was a strange kind of love since she had formerly been an object. Though she hadn't taken on her sword form in several days..so it was almost as if she was..human. Zelda felt just a tinge of jealousy, though it was her fault after all. She had seen the bond between him and Ragnell since day one. She probably was better off leaving him alone. But..she couldn't turn off those feelings she had. She could only hope that they would fade rather than grow.

"Ragnell is special to you...probably in more ways than one. I don't know how you feel for her, but she loves you. She would do anything for you. I'm sure she will learn to express herself in more mature ways once she's been around and seen how other people interact. I assume for the past however many years...she has only listened to you."

***

Ragnell was on all fours as she stalked her prey. A boar. At least it looked like one. It was so big, surely it could be a good meal for two? She just had to kill it. Before she pounced though, something landed in the trees above it, and it ran away. "Oh come on!" She shouted as she watched her prey go away. It had been such a long time since she left...almost ten minutes. And she didn't have anything. She couldn't go back empty handed.

She saw something falling from the tree where she heard the sound. It wasn't a leaf...but it looked like...a feather? A bird! Depending on how big it was, it might have been the perfect! "Come on birdy, I'm taking you home!" Ragnell started carefully walking toward the tree, but before she could get close enough, a dark purple arrow shot from the tree. It shot right through her, and she cried out in pain. Three more shot towards her but she tumbled out of the way and got to her feet, her arm turning into a very sharp blade.

"Come on out here, coward!" She shouted, and as if answering her call she saw a boy with wings drop from the tree, holding a bow. He glared at her, pulling apart his weapon. Two blades? Ragnell could certainly match that. This winged boy could be a threat to Ike if he attacked her without even a warning.
 
Ike glanced at her a moment, then back to the fire. "...To be honest, I don't think it works like that for her," he mused. "You say love as if it is a...it is not something that she can fall into or out of, we are simply...us." he murmured. "I am her Master because I am the one who has been using her for so long, and taking care of her. It is loyalty and respect." He supposed it was shallow of him to say that a sword couldn't love. But a sword couldn't do anything but cut, either.
--

"Hmph," The angel murmured, spinning the blades in his hands. "Guess Zelda isn't as smart as I thought, you're a long way from home, little sword. So I suggest you go back into your sheath and hide before things get messy." Why in the world was she naked? "I just need her and that blue haired guy, not you."
 
"Is that really how it is?" Zelda mused as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. "I guess. You know her much better than I do, but...I have always felt like certain swords do love their masters, and that is how they choose them." Speaking of which...where was she? This was the longest that she had gone without running back to him. Perhaps she was having trouble finding something for them to eat?

***

Ragnell glared at him and then looked at his blades. "I don't know who you are and why you care about Zelda but that "blue haired guy" is my Master and I will not let you hurt him!" She shouted before she swung one of her arms, letting loose a slice of whitish blue energy straight towards him and then running after it. Even if he dodged her first attack, she wouldn't give him a moments rest.
 
"Wait, did you hear that?" Ike said, rising up with a concerned frown. It was very faint, but it was a heavy vibration of energy...like the talent Ragnell could do to hurl energy at a distance. "Something must be wrong, come on."
--

He narrowed his eyes at that, moving quickly to side step before one of his blades clashed against hers bringing the other around to swing at her head. "Out of my way! I can't waste time with you!" He had gotten careless, but maybe he could play this to his advantage...
 
Zelda did sense that and she rose to her feet, making sure rapier was attacked to her side. Did Ragnell run into a Gerudo? She followed Ike in the direction where the energy had come from.

**

Ragnell blocked his other blade and grinned at him savagely. "No way! I'm gonna drop you before you get close to Zelda and my Master!" She suddenly parried both of his blades and then went to headbutt him in his forehead. Her technique..if you could call it that...was savage and unpredictable.
 
By the time Ike and Zelda arrived to the rush of combat, Ragnell's forehead had connected with the assailants head as he stumbled back with a furious growl. His eyes, however...went right to Zelda. Perfect...this was going to be easier than he thought.

"Who in the world are you?" Ike muttered, taking a step in front of Zelda as he beckoned for Ragnell to be in his hands.

"None of your business," He muttered, connecting his blades again. "More importantly, you're a long way from home, Queen Zelda...be a shame if something happened to it."
 
Ragnells limbs went back to normal as she ran over to Ike and took his hand, turning into his familiar weapon. She was silent, perhaps because she knew Ike would need his concentration for this adversary. Zelda looked at the boy and his wings. He wasn't anything she had ever seen before. Another foreigner...?

"...My people can take care of themselves while I'm away." Zelda told him as she drew her sword. She would let Ike defend her, but would be ready anything got passed them. "And I can take care of me..."
 
"Heh, we'll see...now that the naggy little brat is gone, I can enjoy myself." Ike narrowed his eyes a moment, fingers tightening around the hilt of Ragnell. A sword blessed by two goddesses, seen over a thousand battlefields and made Ike a hero? Naggy?

...Just a little, but a weapon was a weapon as Ike advanced. The sword was heavy, and it was long...but Ike used it like it was nothing. He was able to keep up with the rapid swings of the winged combatant, parrying and dodging. He knew what the thing was doing...he wanted an opening, a chance to get to Zelda. Ike knew Zelda could handle herself, but his duty and his job was to be her bodyguard. Regardless of her stubborn attitude, he took it seriously.

The problem was...is that this guy was good, really good. A natural talent to his weapon that had his experience win over his strength. He couldn't press the offensive because his offense was too withering, so he stayed on the defense. The jungle humidity made it hard to keep his body with what he needed to do, while their attacker looked barely phased at all. No, in order to keep this...he needed to make sure he couldn't expect his next move.

His winged attacker remained quiet as he moved forward again and Ike went to meet him. Again, they danced with a flash of parries and blocks before trying to poke holes in their defense. But he was tired of playing, and took a wide swing that had Ike block before he could recover, and then dash past in a burst of dark energy. Ike was already ahead of him, but he didn't see it. All he felt was the sweet satisfaction of his blade sinking into the soft gut of flesh and-...

"Try again," Ike grunted, his right coming across the attacker's face in a brutal hook before slamming the pommel against his forehead to stagger him back with a pained yelp.

"You...you monkey!" he hissed.

Ike, for the moment...seemed unphased.
 
Whoever this boy was...Zelda could feel the dark energy radiating from him as he fought. It was different, but somehow strangely familiar. She watched as he traded blows with Ike..his experience at sword play not matching up with his apparent age. He was...extremely skilled to be keeping up with Ike. Then..all of a sudden he surged with that familiar dark energy, and for some reason Zelda got chills. That only happened around one man...Ganondorf. Was he...involved with that man?

It was true Ganon was working with someone, but it was supposed to be a Goddess. Not this boy. Was he related to her somehow? Zelda was getting a really bad feeling about this. Especially seeing how he had caught Ike off guard with his last attack, though the mercenary had other plans. A simple but effective technique...a punch.

Zelda sheathed her sword and then summoned her bow. She would help Ike, regardless of how dirty it may have seemed.
 
"You're not bad for some human with a freak of a sword," he muttered. "But you got sloppy."

"So did you," Ike grunted, hand over his stomach. Ugh, he'd have to work through that... "Because I don't fight alone."

"A sword doesn't count!" He growled, moving forward again to strike. Ike rose his blade to block and took a step back, and slightly to the right. That wasn't who he was talking about, in the slightest. He was giving Zelda a clear shot.
 
He didn't fight alone, huh? The lips of the queen curled upwards. He had noticed her, but their enemy hadn't. And he was giving her a perfectly clear shot. Zelda created a large arrow of light and sent it hurling straight to the winged boy. If he didn't notice it in time, he would find it very difficult to dodge.
 
His eyes widened, and his wings suddenly took flight as the massive arrow slammed into his shoulder and sent him spiraling into the jungle with a roar of pain, he went into the thick brush and Ike was planning to follow after, but his step forward made him stumble with a faint grunt of pain.

"Damn, he got me worse than I thought..." he muttered, resting Ragnell against the ground to lean on. That didn't feel like a normal wound...it hissed and festered, and he was starting to feel more than a little sick.
 
"Are you okay, Master?" Ragnell's voice was filled with concern, but she didn't know if that strange would come back so she stayed in her sword form. Though she could sense that he wasn't okay, and it worried her. There was a technique that he could use to heal himself..but he'd have to be well enough to perform it.

Zelda hurried over to him and looked at his wound. She could sense the remnants of the energy that he was struck with, and it...was like a poison. "Ike...we need to go back to the campsite...I have something that can help you." She urged him.
 
"Ugh," Ike grimaced, gripping his sword tighter. "We shouldn't let him get away, Zelda. If he knows we're here, Ganondorf might, too." There went the color in his vision, and his hearing was starting to drone out slowly...
 
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