4-E5 Rebirth

Ike... Um... Were you joking when you said you couldn't remember how we met?

Well, sorta. It was a long time ago.

How could you forget?

Relax, Soren. I got to thinking, and I remembered. I remember what happened in Gallia on the day we first met.

Ike...

Mother had gone shopping with Mist that day. I was wandering around the village all alone.

I walked to the edge of the forest, looking for a stick I could pretend was a sword. There was a raven-haired boy lying on the ground.

I remember the huge oak tree by the clearing... I'd been sleeping in the hollow by the roots.

He looked like he was my age. He was as skinny as a twig, wearing rags and covered in dirt. He looked like he was near death.

I took out my lunch and I handed it to him. He made a noise like a scared animal and shied away.

He was suspicious of me at first, but eventually he took my sandwich and started to eat. It was like he'd never eaten before in his life.

I didn't have anything else to feed him, so I told him to come to my house. But he kept shaking his head no.

I was afraid you were going to trick me. Afraid that you were going to chase me away after taunting me with food, just for a laugh...

I told the boy that I'd bring him some food the next day at the same time and place. He finally nodded when I said that.

It made me happy. I felt like I was doing something right, helping this boy. Like I was the only one who'd do that.

...I was happy, too. Not just because I wasn't hungry anymore. Because someone finally would talk to me.

So I went back to the village again the next day. I was scared of the other villagers and their rocks and sticks, but I still went back.

That's right. That was Gallia back then.

The beorc abused and tormented the Branded because the laguz shunned them. They wanted to avoid upsetting the laguz.

The villagers threw stones at me, called me an animal and a devil.

But on the next day, the village was littered with corpses. Soldiers and peasants were in a panic.

It was my dad. He went crazy when the spirit of chaos in the medallion touched him.

I walked through the empty streets, checking bodies to see if you were dead. But I couldn't find you.

I decided that you had to be alive. I took money and food from the village and headed for Crimea, a land of beorcs.

Soren...

On my way to Crimea, I kept seeing laguz from the beast tribe. They were terrifying, but after a while I realized something.

They never attacked me. They all seemed to notice something about me, and then pretend they couldn't see me.

That look was burned into my mind, and it was always the same. They'd scowl, then walk away like they'd never noticed me.

In a way, that left me feeling colder and more alone than if they'd attacked me. Hate... That I could understand. This was denial.

They made me feel like I wasn't supposed to exist at all. That my simply being alive was an affront to the world.

That was how the beasts treated me. And I hated them for it. It sat in my heart like a lead bar. Like a glacier.

...

When I reached Crimea, I took refuge in a church along the way.

They took my brand to be a sign that I had been trained in the arcane arts. They took good care of me, and taught me things.

Once I had learned to speak and behave like other people, I wandered Crimea for several years.

Then I finally found you.

But I'd...

Yes. You'd forgotten that day in Gallia.

But I didn't care. My only wish was to see you again.

I just wanted to see the only boy who had held out a warm hand when I had nothing.

Soren... Don't cry.

Don't cry? What? I'm not crying...

Soren, you're smart, but you're no good when it comes to your emotions. Come over here.

D-don't treat me like I'm a child! I'm not that--

Come on.

Shut up! Shut up...

Then I'll come over to you.

It's all in the past, Soren...

...Sniff...

Sniff... Gwuh... Wahhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhh!