Here we are again! The second installment of Irony! This chapter is a bit shorter than the first, but it's still a relatively long one! I just love long fics!

Just so you're not lost, this chapter starts on chapter 27 of Eliwood's story (the one where Vaida joins your party).

I do not own Fire Emblem or its respective characters.

ONWARD!

Ever since that day Kent and Fiora had always worked together. They soon became close friends and spent so much time together that one would think they were having a relationship of sorts. However no one thought such things nor spread such rumors; Kent and Fiora were perhaps the most duty-bound members of the group, and they were considered the last people in their army who would have a good idea as to what love was.

One thing was for certain, no one worked together as perfectly as they did. And while no rumors were spread about the possibility of them having a relationship, there were a few jokes made about them being one single person. Like if one of them were to perhaps die, lose a limb, or become severely wounded, then the other would follow the same fate at exactly the same moment; regardless of their health.

But for the time being, the party was fighting their way to the Shrine of Seals so that they would be one step closer to acquiring weapons powerful enough to defeat Nergal. It was intended to be an easy trip, but the remnants of the Black Fang decided to make this place their last ditch attempt at revenge for the spilt blood of their many comrades and leaders. No one in the group wanted to fight this battle, but they all knew that it must be done. Kent and Fiora were the first to depart from the rest of the group as usual, to meet the enemy head on. But this time around the distance they had to cross was much greater than usual, and to conserve the energy of their beasts, they moved along at a steady trot as opposed to a full on gallop, and they had some time to talk a bit.

"How do you think we shall fare this time?" Kent asked, trying to keep up the conversation they had been having, after leaving camp, about the moral values of the rest of the group.

"Well, I think that our chances of surviving are rather good." Fiora explained, "But considering the way that the people we will be fighting know that their organization is scattered and no longer as strong as it used to be, they know that they have nothing to lose. They are not fighting to fulfill orders, they are fighting for revenge. This may be more difficult than we anticipate."

"We should indeed be careful as always, but is that doubt that I detect in your voice, Fiora?" Kent responded to his comrade. She shrugged.

"I suppose that I'm just a bit in awe at the will of some people. Kent, you are fighting for Caelin, as well as Lycia. And I'm fighting for Illia, and we are both doing our best to defend our countries, but these people belong to no one country. What must it be like to fight for no country, and just for revenge? It saddens me sometimes to know what these people are going through. But if I think about that and show mercy to those who will spare me none, then I may end up dead. But I will have died defending my country. They will have died for nothing."

"It is indeed odd what some people will fight for but please Fiora, do not let your thoughts dwell on the possibility of your own death." Kent insisted, "Think of how what we are doing is for the greater good. It is sad that we must spill the blood of those who are not our enemy, but it must be done. There is no other way. Not to say that I do not question the means to an end, but our only other option is to do nothing and allow Nergal to feed off the quintessence of the innocent. Either way these people will die, but at least they will not have died at the hands of a mad man."

"I share your opinion Kent, and I will not let my thoughts linger on my own death or yours or Mark's or anyone else's." Fiora assured him as they entered a grassy valley between two mountain ranges. They both instantly began scanning the various peaks for any signs of enemy snipers, and there was silence between them for a short while as their concentration lay upon the brown jagged rocks that reached so high.

"I'm glad to know that you're looking out for me." Kent said after a while. "I honestly can't imagine working so well with anyone else. Thank you for all you've done."

She laughed and spoke, "Kent, it still amazes me how many times you can take the words right out of my mouth. Thank you as well- I see them too!" They had both stopped for just over the small hill they were climbing was a small mass of clustered red bodies. "Armored knights." Fiora declared, making good use of her extraordinary eyesight. "Four small ones, one big. Look's like they have some friends farther away though. Standard tactic?"

"Sure. We don't have any snow to get in our way this time, and the sun will provide us with all the illumination we need, which will be a nice change from our past battles. Wouldn't you say?" Kent commented.

"I hear you." Fiora responded as she rolled her eyes in memory of the last few battles the party had been involved in. They had gone through freezing cold snow, a dark palace which required them to always be wary of innocent bystanders, and a flooded temple with disappearing bridges which made their trek to Sonia even more difficult as she hailed down lightning on all of their heads. "I'll see you in a short while." She finished as she rode off and took flight, hidings behind the mountains.

Kent tightened the grip on his spear, put on his helmet, and charged forward. His opponents were too far away for him to make an effective surprise attack, and they were quick to spot him. Their bulky armored forms rose from where they had been sitting in wait, tallest among them a general, who with long heavy chains hanging at his sides, and easily standing twice the height of a man held aloft a massive steel axe, which looked like it must have weighed some 200 pounds. As Kent hurried the stallion beneath him the knights backed away from the general to give him room for his massive assault.

The towering dreadnought took a step back, and flung his enormous weapon right at Kent when he was some 20 yards away. The paladin had been expecting this, and knew that everything was now counting on his timing, and calculations of distance. He leaned out of the path of the large bladed piece of metal, thrust with his spear right as one of the links in the chain, and broke it. He grabbed for the end of the chain with the axe, and began to swing it in a wide arc, knowing that his strength alone would not be enough to carry it. He continued to furiously keep up the speed of the axe and keeping a tight grip on the reigns of his horse, knowing that he only had to hold on to make things work. It was no easy task, and he had to move his entire body to keep with the rhythm of the circular motion. The other end of the heavy chain fell on his left shoulder; giving him a massive bruise and a large dent in his armor. But he kept on riding, swinging the axe furiously to keep ahold of it, until he got within range and let it go. He flung the axe right at one of the knights, hitting it with enough force for an instant death, and Kent charged right at the enormous general making a large slash with his spear, but all he made was scrape against the impenetrable armor.

He road past the towering individual, knowing that he'd have to rethink his strategy later. He spotted ahead of him a knight that was turning around to retreat after seeing what had happened to the one that Kent had slew with the enormous axe, but this made his job only easier. He thrust his lance outward as he charged at the knight from behind and just skimmed along it's left shoulder until he hit the back of the chest mounted shield that accounted for much of a knights protection and knocked it off him. He thrust backward with his spear once he passed the knight to pierce through the considerably thinner armor. He had no time to look back to see if he had gotten the kill he wanted, for a nearby knight had hurdled a javelin at him. Kent unslung the crimson shield from his back onto his left arm, and held it at a sharp angle so the projectile was deflected away from him.

For a long time Kent fought in this manner, all the while wondering where Fiora was until he finally spotted her out of the corner of his eye swooping down on a nomad who had apparently expended all of his arrows. He reasoned that she had been holding the enemies at bay from him for quite some time, and he might have been overwhelmed at this point without her help. He continued to kill off the knights one by one and occasionally a brigand or myrmidon that came too close, until he was left with only the general, who had been slowly following him around with a silver-tipped lance in hand all this time. Kent decided to make his charge, as foolish as it was, but he may become lucky and find a way to defeat the giant.

The end of Kent's spear was beginning to dull, but he figured it might last just a bit longer. Still, he charged forward at the General, and watched as his enemy brought his spear around behind him. Kent kept on going, new that this was all psychological, and watched as the towering individual brought his lance forward in the beginning of a large sweeping motion. Kent ducked, and deflected the swipe upward with his shield in an attempt to knock his opponent off balance, but he did not budge. With what precious time he had, Kent got right up to his enemy and started thrusting as fast as he could as every space between the armor, but his attacks found no mark. He saw the general bring his weapon around for another swipe at him, and Kent was about to run for it when he noticed a long brown shaft sticking out between the generals helmet and left shoulder plating. He watched as the armored individual toppled to the ground.

Kent looked up to see Fiora high in the air waving her lance down at him just before she dove down on the head of another hapless brigand. He returned the gesture. "Fiora," The paladin said, even though he knew she couldn't hear him, "Thanks for always looking out for me." His moment of thought was interrupted as he sighted an enemy sniper aiming high in the air. Kent didn't need to see who the bowman was aiming for; he just needed to eyeball the distance and hurdle his spear at the one who he knew was a plausible threat to his comrade.

As she looked for another target, Fiora noticed the freshly slain former-archer, whose bloody torso was located about halfway down the shaft of a lance. "Kent." She said with a smile as she careened toward another axe-wielding cutthroat, "Thanks for always looking out for me." In one effortless motion, she swung her sword through her enemy, and pulled back on the reins to soar almost straight up; the wind of her speed almost washing her blade clean of blood. Her unfortunate foe's head and left arm fell to the ground against his lifeless body.

As Fiora started to gain altitude, she heard a faint whirling noise somewhere behind her. She turned around just in time so see a hand-axe slice across her right calf, cutting through the leather of her boot, and making a rather long gash across her leg. She quickly leaned off to her left to avoid further damage from the spinning blade, and it passed harmlessly over her. She quickly assessed the damage on her leg, just as a fine line of red started to seep from the blue leather of her boot. It hurt, but the pain was bearable and she knew that no bones had been broken, so she could continue attacking in this manner.

Her eyes looked past her leg and down onto the ground where she spotted the hand-axe flying back into the hands of a berserker. The muscle-bound warrior hurdled his weapon up at her, and Fiora swerved out of it's path, then swooped down at the man with all possible speed. The man without a weapon got down on the ground so his Pegasus riding opponent could not take a swing at him without crashing into the dirt. He looked to the skies in case the Pegasus knight decided to hurdle a javelin at him, but he just saw his winged opponent swoop down, but pull up at the last moment and fly off into the distance. The man with horns on his helmet jumped to his feet and hollered after her, "HA! Ye' cowardly bitch of a whore! I ought to fu- AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGH!" The hand-axe that he had thrown had come spinning back to him, burying itself between his shoulder-blades with enough force to knock him to his knees. Kent then came riding up behind him, and chopped the man's head off with his red axe as he followed Fiora's lead.

Kent then charged at and, with the might of his horse alone, trampled to death a warrior that had been desperately trying to switch from his bow to his axe before the paladin reached him (the warrior had shot an arrow at Fiora from behind, which she blocked with her Delphi Shield without even looking). The warrior just wasn't fast enough. "FIORA!" Kent hollered to his comrade high in the sky as he traded his axe for his silver lance, "HAVE THE OTHER'S ARIVED YET?"

"THEY'RE JUST NOW COMING THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS!" She replied ass her body was covered in a blue light that made the cut on her leg partially heal up. It was all thanks to the psychic staves the party had found on Valor, and while they could not permanently heal a wound, (that job was better suited for staves that worked right on a wound rather than at a distance) in the hands of someone like Pricilla they were invaluable. Kent turned his head to see Hyperion, Heath's loyal wyvern, drop Dart, who was holding Lyn under one arm and Guy under the other, on the head of some poor knight who obviously didn't survive the crash. Well, in truth, the knight did survive the crash, but had his skull smashed in by Dart's hammer once the mighty berserker had dropped his living cargo.

As Dart unleashed himself on two lance-wielding generals, Guy began hacking and hewing the ranks of mercenaries and myrmidons with reflexes quicker than lightning, as Lyn covered him with her small bow and deadly accuracy. On the battlefield, lightning was not only present in Guy's movements, but millions of volts of the stuff was surging through the bodies of five cavaliers and there mounts who had dared to attack Erk and Pricilla while they were aware of their presence. Raven, with a silver edged sword in hand, was finishing off an enemy fighter with unbelievable ease, as he whipped around just in time to knock away an arrow that had been speeding towards him. Sheathing his sword, Raven reached for his hand-axe, which he flung with such force that it cut its way right through the targeted sniper, and lodged itself firmly in a nearby boulder. Hector, with his great, towering axe, simply walked in a straight line, leaving behind him a bloody trail of the bodies of mercenaries, paladins, and generals; all of which were cloven in two. Ninian was once again dancing in the center of the entire battle field, while Eliwood always stayed near her, eager to put a hole through anyone who got too near him or the one that he had gown more than a little fond of. Rebecca was obviously angering Mark once again, as she had the tendency to stray towards the front lines. She wasn't in much danger however; the green-haired sniper had perfected her archery skills so well, that she could have 3 well-aimed arrows in the air at a time, moving towards 3 different targets, and they were all shot separately. Canas however was a different story all together. He sat high atop a mountain, reading a book, with Mark beside him, occasionally telling him where he wanted an eclipse spell placed. Karel was with the group as well, but he obeyed hardly any commands, moving towards the densest concentrations of enemy troops. Once he had thoroughly slain them, he moved on to the next cluster, leaving a thick mist of blood behind him. Jaffar went about in much the same way as Karel, only no one saw him, and he preferred to take his opponents one by one as he sliced them in quarters. Having their comrades being mercilessly and brutally torn apart in front of them must have been a very horrible thing to see before they too met the same grotesque fate. From both of these seemingly soulless men there was no mercy, nowhere to hide, and no time to scream. As Louise went about in a manner much like Rebecca, her nearby husband, Pent, had jumped up onto the shoulders of a general. He then placed his palms on the eye holes of the helmet and sent some magic from his elfire tome through the armor, burning the yelling man inside alive with a flame so hot, that his armor was fused into one solid piece.

When the final henchman had been killed, everyone gathered around their final opponent, Linus. He saw what his odds were, and he knew that he was not in the greatest of situations, but he still declared in a loud voice, "You may very well kill me, but on account of the fact that you have killed my brother, I am determined to slaughter as many of you as I possibly can! Whether you surrender or fight, I shall send you to burn in the fires of Hell all the same!" Rushing towards Guy first, the two of them mostly missed with every swing of their swords as they dueled in front of the others. Guy was nimble enough to dodge any bladed weapon, but when he tried to strike his opponent with a killing move, his blade was always propelled back by some unseen force. Eventually, Linus somehow conjured up some light magic from the tip of his sword, and let it loose on Guy who took it full on and was thrown through the air into the wall. Guy never did like magic, and he was anything but immune to the stuff.

"That's an Iron Rune that he's got!" Mark exclaimed in amazement as he pointed to the small emblem affixed to Linus's shield. The man known as the Mad Dog ran towards Guy's unconscious body. He was stopped however, by the sheer surface area of Hector's axe, which he had promptly swung down in between them. Linus retaliated by bashing Hector in the head five times in two seconds with his shield and knocked the blue haired great lord out before he could reach for his sword. The leader of the Black Fang brought up his blade to behead his fallen opponent when Erk let loose with a ball of fire on him. The hero spun about and absorbed the blow with his shield, causing its surface to burst into flames. He threw this flaming object directly at Mark, whose robes caught on fire. As the others helped slap out the flames on their tactician, Fiora came flying towards the man who had caused enough damage, moving at a speed that broke the sound barrier. With her lance in hand, her opponent rooted to the ground in a defensive stance, and everybody's ear-drums ringing, Fiora sped towards Linus head-on. In a series of movements far too fast for anyone to see, Linus jumped over the Pegasus and its rider. Fiora swung back at him with her lance but missed, and Linus kicked her square in the back of her right shoulder despite her goddess-like abilities. The kick had enough force behind it to shatter her bones, and send Fiora off her mount, and crashing to the stone floor; her weapon knocked from her hand.

Most of the others were either unconscious, too busy preventing the fires on Mark from spreading any further, or clutching their ears in agony to notice that Linus was advancing on Fiora's crippled form. She found herself looking down the blade of a sword that had been placed just a hair's width from the bridge of her nose. "Fine," he said as he brought his hand back to shove his blade forward, "I'll finish you off fi-!" The silver-tipped end of a spear stuck out from the Mad Dog's left eye, as a trickle of blood began to flow down his face. Fiora saw the very faintest of smiles take form on the man's mouth as he began to fall off to the side, his sword still clutched firmly in his hand for some reason that was beyond mortal keen.

"Kent," Fiora said in a soft voice she saw her comrade pull his spear out of the skull of the man who had almost ended her life, "what took you so long?" She then lost consciousness from a combination of pain, exhaustion of fighting all day, and the mental stress involved in a near death experience.

Kent dropped his bloody spear on the ground as he said in a low voice, "Fiora, you didn't expect me to not show up, did you?" He then fell off his horse and collapsed to the floor for many of the same reasons that Fiora had. But for him, it wasn't that he had had a near death experience, it was shock of the fact that he had so directly saved someone's life: his friend's life.

FIN!

Well that was violent wasn't it! Your probably wondering about now why this story was labeled under the category of 'Romance', as so far it has been a war fic, but fear not KentFiora fans! The 'love' part of this love story will soon become evident in the next chapter. And this time, I'm not lying! Chapter 3 up in 2 weeks or less!

R&R or give me a flame,

For I shall read them all the same!