Author's note: In this fic, the setting has changed drastically from the Fire Emblem you are used to. As such, some classes have been removed, some character roles have changed, and a bit of their personalities along with that. The base personalities have been left as unaltered as possible. I have also taken a few liberties with the story to better fit the setting. Thank you for reading, and be sure to review when you're done!

~11:53 AM~

I sat in my dimly lit office, on the third floor of an old building in downtown Lycia. The outer walls made of red-brown bricks, although I had made sure my small office was at least painted. Sadly, that color was a dull beige, nothing too vibrant, despite how much I liked lively colors. I leaned back in my chair, a simple wooden one, nothing plush or leather for me, I hadn't been in town long enough to charge enough for that. I prop my feet onto my simple pine desk that I kept well polished. Might as well have something nice. My gaze shifted to the coat rack next to the door where my hat and coat hung. Nothing extraordinary, just dressy enough to look professional while still being comfortable.

I hadn't received much work, a missing item here, a cheating husband there, nothing major. I wished dearly for something more substantial than the usual stuff I was entrusted with. Being a private eye wasn't what it was cracked up to be. That's why I'd moved here in the first place. Where I came from, there wasn't much crime, or at least the police could easily handle everything that happened there. I sighed slightly as my gaze shifted once more to the black phone sitting on my desk, waiting for it to ring.

"C'mon... Ring damn you!" I said. I waited for another minute before I decided to give up for a little bit, it was almost lunch time anyway. I rose from my chair, walking over to the rack upon which my coat hung. It was a simple thing, not even gold painted, a dull gray of steel shown through beneath the items hanging on it. Just as I'd donned my hat, a loud chime burst through the silent air of my office, causing me to jump a bit. I jumped for the phone, holding the receiver up to my ear.

"This is Mark Maddock speaking. How may I help you?" I said quickly. A sweet, steamy voice came through the ear piece that caused my heart to skip a beat.

"This is Mark Maddock, the new private eye in town, correct?" she said. I stammered a bit in my response, telling her that she was, in fact, correct. "Ah, good. I wish to meet with you to discuss a job. I wanted to make sure you would be in before I showed up. How does one hour from now sound?" Great, this was probably another cheating husband who was too stupid to realize his wife was probably the best thing to ever happen to him.

"Alright miss. I'll be waiting," I replied, replacing the receiver. I hung up my coat and hat once more and sat down again in my little wooden chair. I propped my feet on my desk again, waiting for this woman to show up. I sat in relative silence, listening only to the fan on the ceiling oscillate. "...I really need to get a radio."

~1:12 PM~

The silence was starting to get to me. Normally, I'd be taking an afternoon nap about now. I'd been fighting the urge for a while, which I confirmed by checking my watch. It had been a little over an hour since I'd received that call. I sighed as I looked at my door, waiting for a knock to come. It was a simple wooden door with single pane of opaque glass in it. My name and profession was printed neatly in black paint on the other side.

MARK MADDOCK

-

PRIVATE EYE

My eyelids were growing heavy, my body protesting at its lack of an afternoon nap. Every time they managed to find their way closed, I would snap them open. Slowly the time between the "blinks" shortened, until finally they did not snap open. Just as I was about to fall all the way asleep, a quick rapping came to my door. My eyes shot open and I attempted to stand, forgetting my feet were on the desk still. I fell out of my chair with a clatter as it fell with me. I quickly regained my composure and set the chair back up, quickly opening the door.

She was even more stunning than she had sounded over the phone. The green-haired beauty walked into my office, I moved quickly to pull out the seat opposite my desk out for her. She smiled slightly, almost as if my action was childishly cute. She sat down and I went to close my office door. People usually did not feel comfortable even telling me about what they wanted found out, let alone anyone that might be walking buy. I looked her over on my way back to the wooden chair on my side of the desk. She wore a somewhat modest blue dress that accented her lovely curves nicely, at least until it got to her shapely legs. The sides had been cut to reveal almost all of them, maybe so she could move better, maybe just because she liked showing them off. Either way, I wasn't about to complain.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Mark," she spoke when I finally sat down.

"Trust me, the pleasure is all mine Miss...?" I said, trying to hint at asking for her name. She seemed to pick it up without missing a beat.

"Just Lyn will do nicely."

"Alright Miss Lyn. How may I be of service?" As I asked, I pulled out a small notepad to write down whatever it was she wanted. And any additional information she provided.

"I want you to..." she paused, looking around as if to check if anyone else could be listening. This wasn't all that uncommon. Sometimes people were nervous about divulging their suspicions to a complete stranger. I tried to comfort her unease, which was marginally successful. "I'd like you to look into my parent's disappearance." That set off some alarms.

"Disappearance? You sure you shouldn't be taking this up with the police?" This really wasn't something you came to a PI with right off the bat. She shook her head.

"I already did. The investigation was closed weeks ago. They said that there was no signs of foul play and decided to just leave it at that. Too many other things they had to work on. But... It never sat right with me. It would help put my mind at ease..." Something told me there was something more to this than meet the eye. I thought it over for a second, until I finally agreed. We discussed rates for a bit before I got to the important stuff.

"So... Can you tell me everything you know about their "disappearance"?" I asked, a bit serious. She seemed to grow uncomfortable when the subject came up. "Please, I'm going to need all the info I can get if I'm to find out what happened." She breathed in and out deliberately to calm herself, causing her bosoms to heave slightly, much to my silent delight.

"I don't know much beyond what the police told me. I came to visit one day and they just weren't there. It... frightened me so I called the cops immediately. They investigated the scene, and told me they found nothing. No indication of forced entry, no signs of a struggle, nothing was out of the ordinary," she told me. That told me somethings. It was just as the police wanted everyone to believe and they just left without telling their daughter, someone managed to get into their house and get leverage over them peacefully, or it was someone they knew. Lyn continued to speak. "Naturally the police still suspected foul play, but they seemed to be... reluctant to look into it." Uh-oh. "After a few a month or so they hadn't found anything and closed the case for now."

This sounded even deeper than I had first suspected. The police didn't want to look into it, and had found nothing... So either it was... just as they said, or I was about to jump into something I might not be able to climb out of. I got a few more bits of info such as their address before I finished my questioning. "Alright Miss Lyn, I think I have enough to start..." My stomach growled rather loudly at this point, reminding me of the lunch I was going to have right before she called. "Sorry 'bout that." I smiled weakly. "I was just about to go out for lunch when you called." She apologized a bit for interrupting my schedule. "No it is quite fine. In fact, if you're hungry, I'll gladly treat you to lunch."

She seemed to be taken aback a bit by my offer. "Are you sure?" I nodded. "..That'd be great... I haven't been out since my parents vanished," she said. Ding ding ding! Jackpot!

~2:41 PM~

We had gone to one of my favorite places for a light lunch. Naturally the owner had teased me a bit about my date when she wasn't listening. I'd been going there for months since I'd arrived in this city, and this was the first time I'd shown up with a woman, let alone one as attractive as Lyn. Heh... I don't think I'd mind if he kept that up... I smiled slightly as we walked out. I'd called Lyn a cab to take her home, even against her protest. But, there was a pair of men waiting at the door. Both wore rather expensive looking Bernese suits. One stood, business like, his expression somewhat blank, his orange hair matched his deep red suit rather nicely. The other slouched against the wall, a lazy expression on his face, the back of his green suit being pushed up higher than it should have been given. When his eyes caught a glimpse of Lyn, they just lit up.

"Hello doll," he said, immediately standing straight up. The one in red seemed annoyed at his partner's antics. "I am Sain, 'Knight' of Caelin. Pleased to meet your acquaintance, but I'd be even more pleased to keep your company tonight..." The man in red looked as if he was restraining himself from just slapping this Sain upside the head. Lyn shot him this look of disgust and took my arm, and practically dragged me the rest of the way to the curb, waiting for the cab. As soon as no one was looking, the one in red slapped Sain upside the head.

"You idiot! Stop doing that stuff. You know we don't get to draw much attention to ourselves," he said, chastising the green clothed man.

"As if the suits don't already give us away Kent," Sain said back, earning him another slap from Kent.

"Yes, but unlike you I take our job seriously. Do you want to let the 'Marquis' down?" Kent replied. Sain simply looked away, silently admitting his partner had a point. "Besides, I think she's the one we're looking for."

"That broad? Really?" Sain said. Kent pulled out a black and white picture, showing it to Sain. "Wow... A spitting image of her mother. Amazing how long they hid her from us, eh?" Kent simply sighed and made his way back over to us.

"Excuse me ma'am," he said, rather politely, trying to get Lyn's attention. She turned to him, looking rather cross. "Your grandfather sent us Lyndis. He would very much like to meet you." She looked shocked at the name this man had called her.

"How did you know my full name?" she asked, with something between shock and anger in her voice. He bowed slightly.

"Your parents decided they didn't want anything to do with inheriting the family business, so they hid away while you were still young. I apologize if this is too much to take in right now." Lyn still did not look convinced. Kent then produced the picture he had shown Sain. "This is your mother isn't it?" Lyn gasped slightly. This was getting interesting. Someone that had known Lyn's mother that she didn't know about. Sounded like a lead to me.

"So... You gonna go meet this man that claims to be your grandpa?" I asked. She stood silent for a few minutes, even Sain was quiet while she thought it over. The cab pulled up behind us, I told him to wait for a few minutes.

"I... I think I'll give him a chance. This man knows a bit too much to not know something of my mother..." she said. "Alright, I'll go with you both. But only if Mark here comes with me." What?

"...What?" I was a bit surprised by this. I suppose that she found me slightly more trustworthy than either of these two. I didn't blame her but still... She'd known me what? An hour and a half? Oh well. I agreed anyway. The cabbie was getting impatient, so I gave him some money and apologized for the false alarm. We followed Kent and Sain to their car, parted none too far away. We sat in the back, eying Sain and Kent uneasily. I don't think either of us trusted them all that much.

~3:35 PM~

We'd been driving for a while, wherever this guy lived, it was definitely on the other side of town. And the interior of this car had lost its charm after the first few minutes. Almost everything was covered in a nice soft fabric. I'd happily take the back seat of this car for my office instead of the cold, hard place that it was. Lyn was growing more and more uneasy by the second. I didn't know he well enough to offer any real comfort... We rode in silence for a few more minutes.

Then a ting was heard from my side of the car, followed swiftly by another. I ducked, and as I looked around so had Lyn. Kent wrenched on the wheel quickly, swerving along the road. I could start hearing bangs coming from behind. Kent and Sain looked to each other, then Sain quickly rolled down the window as Kent pulled a quick U-bolt. We were heading straight for another car! These guys were morons! Sain stuck half his body out the window and pulled out a revolver. He took careful aim, and... Bang! The other car swerved suddenly, as if it had lost control and slammed into a nearby light post. Sain withdrew into the car, rolled up the window and Kent started driving normally again.

"...What just happened?" I asked, slowly coming out of the fetal position. Lyn was starting to regain her composure as well. Sain turned around to face me.

"Nothing happened. And it'd be best if you believed that," he said simply. I shut my mouth. Yup, I was neck deep in trouble so thick that I doubted I would even be able to move my arms. Lyn slumped back, still taken a bit aback by the whole incident. If I wasn't mistaken, that other car 'hadn't' just tried to shot this one to bits. What did they want? And what had I gotten myself into? Well... At least I'd gotten what I wanted earlier, even if I didn't want it now.

~End Chapter 1~

Author's note: I need feedback on this one to make sure I'm doing it right. So please leave a review and tell me what you think! I'll be waiting.