A/N: Beware: heavy spoilers for Awakening from here on out. But if you don't care about that, then feel free to continue reading!

After about ten minutes of fighting in an unorganized manner, both leaders were able to get their own armies into a more strategized formation. However, it was already clear that Sigurd had the upper-hand: Caeda, Tiki, Merric, and Nyna were defeated in the chaos, Ogma and Navarre died not too long after trying to fight Ayra, Larcei, Ulster, and Mareeta at the same time, Linde was caught in a blast of magic from Arthur that was meant for Marth, Minerva was stabbed in the chest by Altena and fell from her saddle, and Gharnef was slayed by the combined efforts of Julius and Arvis. The remaining survivors on Marth's side had separated into two groups widely spread out from each other. This was highly beneficial for Sigurd's battalion.

"With most of their soldiers decimated and their forces divided, there's no way they can fight back now." Quan mused to Sigurd.

Sigurd smiled at this. "Then all that's left for us to do is take care of the remaining numbers. Leif will take one group to the middle to deal with the enemies over there, Seliph and some others will be stationed towards the south fort to act as reinforcements, and the rest of us here will handle the rest."

Quan nodded and turned to Jugdral's army. "You all have your orders! Move out!"

Everyone responded with a loud shout in unison and wished their families and lovers good luck before getting in their respective groups. Seliph caught a glimpse of Marth and couldn't help but feel a little bit of remorse for him. The prince was only trying to protect his people and ended up losing half of his comrades all at once. Then Seliph thought of his own people and decided that this was all for the best. If peace could only be obtained by bloodshed, then he wouldn't back down now. At that moment, a strange feeling began to churn in his stomach, and he started to sense that this fight would take an unexpected turn for the worse.

"Leif!" Seliph called out to his cousin.

"Huh?" Leif raised an eyebrow. "Seliph, what's the matter? Is it anything important?"

"I…" Seliph bit his tongue and shook his head. "Just…be careful out there, Leif. We may have the advantage right now, but there's no telling what could happen."

Leif stared at the blue-haired man for a long time, but gave him a confident smirk. "You're nervous aren't you, Seliph? Don't be so. We will win."

Seliph sighed. "I sure hope so, Leif. I sure hope so…"

Marth absolutely hated how all of his emotions clashed together at once, which was exactly why he hated fighting. His lover and all of his friends died at once, and he could do nothing about it. At the moment, he just wanted to draw his sword and kill as many enemies as he could before being taken down by them. But even that wouldn't have satisfied his anger. Nevertheless, Marth knew he had to restrain himself and conceal his emotions to avoid making reckless decisions.

"If that even matters now." Marth muttered under his breath. "This battle may as well be lost."

"Lord Marth?"

Marth glanced over to Catria, whom also looked rather somber after seeing her commander die. "What is it, Catria?"

"What…what are we going to do from here?"

Marth sighed and looked down at the ground. "I don't know. I'm sorry…I got you all wrapped into this. I thought we could actually put up a fight, but…we were overpowered so easily. There's nothing we can do now."

"There has to be something." Hardin said. "You have Falchion, I have Gradivus. We may not have the numbers, but we may have a chance with our sacred weapons."

Norne nodded. "We just had a weak start, but we can't let that faze us. We have to continue on with our mission. Please, Lord Marth?"

The young king looked at them with melancholy eyes and almost felt his heart shatter. They all depended on him, but he knew he couldn't protect them, nor their comrades. He failed as a leader, couldn't give them hope even if he wanted to. Marth was about to reply when he caught sight of something: an enemy group coming their way.

"Into the forest over there." Marth silently commanded. "The enemy is upon us."

His group agreed and quickly retreated to conceal themselves in the thick patch of foliage. Once he was sure everyone was hidden, Marth craned his neck forward to see his pursuers: they were a small group whose leader appeared to be a brown-haired man in white armor. The brunette was conversing with a blonde-haired woman, so Marth leaned in a little further to hear what they were talking about.

"Lord Leif, what is it?" the woman asked.

"I could have sworn he went this way." The man, whom Marth now identified as "Leif," responded. "Damn, I wonder where they could have possibly run off to."

Marth allowed a bitter smile to form when he heard this. If Leif would bring the fighting into the forest, at least the branches would be good for staying hidden. Then Hardin tapped his finger on Marth's shoulder to get his attention.

"We could attack them now in their confused state." He suggested.

Marth thought it over, but shook his head. "If we attack them, we may be able to take them all down, but that would only spawn Lord Seliph's reinforcements from the south."

Hardin nearly scoffed, but even he had to agree that killing them all off at once would lead to even more soldiers taking their place.

"Lord Marth, I agree that we should wait to attack," Catria whispered, "but then again, we can't hide in here forever. I doubt our enemies would just give up and leave. Besides, some of our allies are still out in the open and they'll eventually need our aid."

Marth inhaled and exhaled deeply. "Yes, that is true. Okay, we'll try and see what we can do for now. Even though we can hardly pose a challenge to them in this state, we can still at least try to survive long enough to come up with a plan."

Everyone nodded and started to think about ways for them to prepare for their next skirmish. All the while though, they could not stop worrying for their fellow comrades all the way across the land.

"General Horace…" Katarina spoke up. "The enemy seems to have spotted us."

"Already, huh?" Horace massaged his temples. "We had better be prepared then. A battle is about to be upon us."

"There's no way we can defend ourselves like this." Etzel said, anxiously twisting his wife's ring around his finger. "Especially since we got separated from the others."

"Do ve even know vether or not they survived?" Athena inquired. "Most of our numbers already died after that last skirmish."

"I reckon they survived." Malice responded, unsheathing her sword. "If they didn't, we would've found out about it by now."

Etzel would have added something, but the sound of thundering footsteps drawing near caught everyone's attention. Some enemy soldiers began to take shape, and everyone knew it was only a matter of seconds before disaster struck.

"Formation!" Horace shouted.

"Legion, what's the matter?" Katarina noticed beads of sweat dripping from the masked man's hair.

"Ugh! For some reason, I can't clone myself!" He replied.

"Great! Right ven ve need more people, this has to happen!" Athena threw her hands up in exasperation.

"They're drawing closer…" Etzel opened his tome, flipping quickly though the pages.

"Uh, maybe I should go to the other side so see if Lord Marth and them are all right…" Malice offered, already trying to get away.

"You'll have to do it later, Malice." Horace commanded adamantly, readying his lance. "We need you with us. Princess Nyna…this will be for you…"

Katarina could already see the tips of lances and swords sticking up in the air and she clutched her lightning tome even tighter as they drew nearer towards her attack range. Gulping, she closed her eyes, stretched out a weak hand and…

At that moment, the sun suddenly blacked out, covering the entire land in a shroud of shadow. Everyone, including the enemies, looked up to see what it was. It was… a dragon? The figure in the sky suddenly swooped down, landed on the ground in front of Horace's battalion with a loud thud, emitting winds at the speed of a forming hurricane that nearly blew down all the soldiers, and uttered an ear-piercing shriek that echoed throughout the very lands of Jugdral. Not even Altena's dragon was as huge or as deadly as the one that just appeared from the sky. The dragon shrieked at the enemy soldiers again, this time forcing them into a panicked retreat to their base. The dragon snorted, then turned around to face the people behind them. Though they were grateful that the dragon was able to prevent a one-sided battle from happening, they were just staring agape with cautious and shocked expressions. The dragon reared its neck back confused, before a bright light overtook it. After the light dispersed, there was no longer a dragon, but a little girl standing in its place.

"That was fun!" The little girl giggled. "Can I do it again, Edi? Can I? Can I?"

"Maybe later, Nowi." Came a voice. "That was good though. Keep it up."

The group turned and saw a large crowd of people carrying all sorts of weapons following behind two men. One with shiny, blonde hair stepped forward and introduced himself.

"Sorry for the scare, but it was necessary." He simply said.

The second man with blue hair stepped forward. "I am Chrom, commander of this army. And this is my tactician, Edith. Is there a Lord Marth around here?"

Katarina didn't know who these people were, nor their intentions, but considering sending the dragon was on their part, then she figured that they were somehow indebted to them.

"Um…we honestly don't know where he is." She admitted. "There was a big fight moments ago, and we were separated."

"Damn." Edith cursed. "So the battle's already begun. No matter, we should be able to catch up. Chrom, your orders?"

Chrom nodded and faced his soldiers. "Everyone, we will execute things as we planned. Frederick, you and your group will accompany Edith and I to the middle; Lucina, you and the other children will head south; everyone else will remain here with these people. Understand? Now let's move out!"

Katarina looked up at Horace with a hopeful expression on her face, which he returned. With these newfound allies, surely the tides would turn in their favor. Suddenly, a red-haired woman popped up next to Katarina and held out her hand.

"You're Katarina, right?" She asked. "My name's Anna."

Katarina jumped, but then squinted her eyes at the woman. "You... I feel like we've met before."

Anna laughed and winked at her. "Maybe. Maybe not. We should talk after the battle is over."

"…this will be interesting."

"Eyvel! Finn!" Leif boomed. "Did you see that dragon over there?!"

Finn narrowed his eyes and gripped his lance. "I did see. But I don't think that should be our main concern right now."

"Father?" Nanna queried. "What do you…oh no…"

From afar, a large number of soldiers were rushing towards them, weapons drawn and ready to fight. Their footsteps thundered against the ground, making Leif's heart pump twice as fast. As they drew nearer, Leif could see that their numbers were great; even as one group broke off from the crowd, they were still big in numbers, which was not good for his squad.

"Everyone, get ready!" Leif commanded. "We're about to be on the defensive."

"Who are these people?!" Mareeta wondered. "They don't seem to be affiliated with the ones we were fighting before."

"I don't know." Eyvel responded. "But it's clear that they're looking for a fight. And we will give them just that."

"Nanna, get behind us." Finn told his daughter, never taking his eyes off of the oncoming soldiers. "This is going to get ugly."

Leif gulped and held his sword firmly in his hands. Sweat was already beginning to form on his brow, running down his red, hot cheeks. For a moment, time seemed to slow down while he could hear his heart pounding against his chest. Then, before he knew it, he was raising his sword to deflect a blow from one of the soldiers. Time resumed, and a full-out battle had begun. From the woods, Marth's jaw dropped at what he saw. He most certainly wasn't expecting allies to show up. Actually, he wasn't expecting anyone to show up, for they were the only ones out there. And…he didn't know any of the people who were fighting.

"Marth!" Hardin called to him. "I know there's many questions swirling in your mind, but we've no time for that. If we're going to fight, now's the time to do so."

"Absolutely." Marth nodded. "Okay, everyone charge!"

Norne burst through the woods, arrow already on her quiver, and shot it at Mareeta. Mareeta felt it whiz past her, and promptly blurted out, "Lord Leif! Enemy from behind!"

"What?!" Leif shouted in disbelief, all the while trying to hold off three people at once. "Dammit! Everybody, watch your backs!"

"Aw yeah!" Vaike shouted zealously as he engaged in a battle of strength with Dagda. "I fight to live and live to fight! How ya doing over there, Lissie?"

"Fine!" Lissa responded, holding off an attack from Finn with her axe. "Brother, watch out!"

"I'm all right, Lissa!" shouted Chrom.

"You!" Marth called out to Chrom. "Are you the leader of this group?"

"That I am! I'm Chrom." Chrom replied, walking over towards the king.

"I see. My name is Marth. Is it safe to assume you're on our side?"

"Yes, sir. We saw you were in dire need of some soldiers, so we came to aid you."

Marth sighed with relief and smiled. "I can't thank you enough. We were in a tough situation until you came along."

"It's nothing really. But let's talk after we're done with this. I have some things I'd like to discuss with you."

"All right then. Archaneans, these men and women are on our side! Do not attack them!"

Hardin nodded and prepared to attack Olwen, whom was busy trying to trade magic attacks with Tharja. "Nyna, my love, I hope you're watching this."

Olwen screamed when she felt Hardin's lance penetrate her stomach, causing her blood to spray all over the ground. Salem wasn't standing too far away when she fell down dead next to him. He would've been sick, but then he felt two arrows pierce his shoulder and thigh, courtesy of Virion and Norne. Salem whirled around to try and cast another spell on them, but he was immediately struck down by Flavia. As soon as Flavia ran off to help Vaike take down Dagdar, Nanna approached Salem and attempted to save his life. However, Stahl noticed what she was trying to do and slashed open her back with his sword, killing her instantly while Salem succumbed quickly to his wounds. Unfortunately, Finn saw the whole thing.

"NO! NANNA!" Finn hollered with grief and rage. The lance knight kicked his horse into a hastened gallop towards Stahl and stabbed him in the stomach.

"That was my daughter, you…!" Finn growled as he tried to thrust his lance into Stahl's chest.

Stahl was doubled over in his saddle, but was still aware that he was currently fighting and weakly used his sword to deflect. "I-I didn't know."

Finn was apathetic to the young man's excuse and tried again to kill him. He would have succeeded, but then Sully came riding up behind him and ran her lance through his abdomen. Finn wasn't dead as he fell off his horse, but the wound he sustained was fatal. He was barely able to mutter, "Raquesis, Nanna…Lord Leif…forgive me…" before giving into death.

"You all right there, Stahl?" Sully asked, tossing Stahl a vulnerary. "You almost got yourself a major arse-whoopin' there."

"I might need a healer for this." Stahl responded, applying some of the medicine to his wound. "And I…I feel horrible right now, but not because of my wound. I mean…I know that as a knight, I have to protect my liege and comrades. And this is a battle, so of course there will be killing and death. But that man I just fought…I killed his daughter. The intense sorrow I saw in his eyes…it was unbearable. I know we've done this before, but…I just can't help feeling this way."

Sully didn't look moved at all, but she did place a hand on her husband's shoulder in a soothing way. "Look, they made it clear that they are our enemies and will fight us to the death. They should be aware of the consequences, so stop feeling so sorry for them and yourself. Now let's get that wound healed."

Stahl opened his mouth to respond, but all that came out was a panicked, "Sully, behind you!"

Sully cursed as she was barely able to steer her and Stahl out of the way after Eyvel shot out a fireball from her sword. Sully drew her own weapon as Stahl applied more medicine to his wound.

"You're going to fight us?" Sully questioned the woman.

"You killed my friends." Eyvel seethed. "I'm not going to back down from here."

"Damn! Stahl, you might want to leave this one to me."

"No way." Stahl replied. "This woman looks fierce and I don't want to take any chances. My wound can wait; let's take her on together."

"Those two remind me of Cain and Abel." Catria thought as she watched the couple battle Eyvel. Suddenly, the atmosphere around her began to change; Catria had enough battle experience to know what this was. Unfortunately, she didn't have enough time to react before she was critically scorched by a Bolganone spell from Saias. Catria bit her lip to prevent from screaming in agony, but the pain from being burned alive was too much and she was beginning to lose consciousness. Right when she nearly lost the grip on her reins, Sumia flew up to her and helped Catria and her Pegasus to safety. Saias shook his head, seeing that his spell didn't do much to the Whitewing, but then tried focusing his attention onto someone else. Vaike was still struggling to get the upper-hand against Dagdar, whom was handling it with ease, Eyvel was able to stand fine on her own, battling two cavaliers at once, and Leif was able to evade every attack from Chrom and Marth coming to him swiftly. The priest then caught sight of Frederick and Kellam fighting off Raydrik, and right when he lifted a hand to cast another spell, Mareeta came running up behind him shouting, "Saias! Look out!"

Saias ducked just in time to realize he was almost the victim of Tiki's dragon breath. As if escaping death wasn't enough, Say'ri came behind ready to fight. Luckily for him, Mareeta was there to fight her off while he turned his attacks on Tiki in her dragon form. Tiki was unrelenting to all of his attacks and swiped her talons at him, knocking him over. Norne sunk an arrow into him that pierced his chest, ending his life immediately. All the color from Mareeta's face drained to a sickly pale when she saw her bishop friend die right in front of her. Soon, her pain was replaced with anger and started to land rage-filled attacks at Say'ri, whom was trying but failing to dodge and evade them all. She couldn't even retaliate against Mareeta's speedy attacks.

"You're strong…" Say'ri muttered. "Stronger than most of the warriors I've seen in Chon'sin."

"I'm the daughter of Eyvel." Mareeta replied angrily. "I will not lose to you!"

"But you will lose to me!" Flavia cut in as she held her sword against Mareeta's throat. "…unless you surrender."

"Never!" Mareeta clutched onto her sword tighter and swung it backwards in the hopes of striking Flavia and making her an easy victim. Instead Flavia was anticipating this and slit open the young girl's jugular vein, leaving her bleeding out on the ground. Even though she was almost attacked by Mareeta a second ago, Flavia still felt some sort of pity for her.

"Say'ri…we can't let her die like this." She said.

Say'ri understood what she meant and nodded. Slowly, she walked closer to Mareeta, readied her sword, and plunged it into her chest, trying to finish her off as quickly and painlessly as possible.

"You know, when we fight the corpse soldiers and bandits," Say'ri started. "I usually don't feel much sympathy for them. But fighting people like this young girl…it seems different…and painful. I feel like we could've been friends with these people."

Flavia closed her eyes and didn't say anything, just giving off a sympathetic hum for a response. A grief-stricken scream echoed across the land, getting the two women's attention.

"MAREETA!" Eyvel cried. The mercenary was so overwhelmed with a torrent of conflicting emotions that she just abandoned her fight with Sully and Stahl and sprinted towards Say'ri and Flavia, lust for revenge flaring in her eyes. Say'ri and Flavia didn't flinch as they prepared for Eyvel to attack, but they were unprepared for the strength they were about to face. Eyvel crossed swords with the two women, pushing their blades back with all her strength and slashing wildly against their attacks. Eyvel had more strength in her than Say'ri and Flavia were expecting and it was quickly becoming a one-sided fight into Eyvel's favor. She was just about to finish the both of them off, but that was when Edith noticed their struggle and quickly casted a spell from his tome. The sudden blast of magic critically wounded Eyvel, enough to weaken her defenses and allow Say'ri to go in for the kill. Edith glanced down sadly at the fallen mercenary and raised his eyes to the heavens.

"Are you entertained right now, Grandfather?" Edith muttered under his breath.

By this time, the numbers in Leif's squad began to lessen. Sumia hurled a javelin at Dagdar, giving Vaike the opportunity to slice open the warrior's chest with Tharja dealing the killing blow. Frederick and Kellam were finally able to take down Raydrik once Hardin was able to lend his assistance. The only one remaining was Leif, who was still in an intense battle with Marth and Chrom. Marth noticed that there were no more enemies left in this group so he immediately pulled away with Chrom following suit.

"Lord Leif," Marth said, pointing the tip of Falchion at Leif's chest. "Is this fighting really necessary? Look around you; all of your comrades have fallen."

Leif glared at Marth, but did take one glance…and nearly dropped his sword at what he saw. He was the only one left standing, the corpses of his fellow soldiers strewn about on the ground in bloody messes. He was so caught up in fighting that he didn't even notice that the rest of his team were dropping like flies. Now he was surrounded by his enemies, making escaping impossible. Why hadn't reinforcements come? Leif looked over to where Seliph's group was and his throat suddenly ran dry. More of the mysterious people showed up and were fighting off Seliph and his squadron the entire time; a clever tactic indeed. For a moment, Leif considered savagely attacking everyone and anyone in his path, which would no doubt lead to his death, but he dismissed the thought as he realized that it would do no good to his family, friends, and the people who lost their lives in the battle. He caught sight of his cousin fighting off a woman with long, blue hair, and that was enough to raise his spirits knowing he was still alive, but only by an insignificant amount.

"Lord Leif." Chrom spoke up. "I highly advise that you surrender now, if you value your life."

Leif scoffed. He could not…would not surrender to the people who had invaded his continent, his home. And he was not going to fight alone, not when his other allies still lived. Licking his lips, Leif did what he could only do now. He opened his mouth and shouted at the top of his lungs, "SELLLLIIIIPPHHHH!"

Even though he was far away, Seliph could still make out Leif's voice in the distance and immediately he could feel his stomach drop, for Leif would never shout out like that. Lucina had given up fighting him to battle off Ares, which gave him the chance to scan his eyes around the land for Leif. His eyes widened with horror when he realized the situation his cousin was in. Leif needed help more than ever now, but he couldn't just bring help that easily because of the sudden attack made on them. Seliph hated to admit it, but he was torn: he couldn't abandon his relative, but he couldn't abandon his squadron when they were in a tight battle. That was when an idea came to mind.

"Everyone!" Seliph shouted out. "We must push our way through to aid Lord Leif! Don't fight back. Defend yourselves if necessary, but focus on breaking through!"

"Don't let them through!" Lucina barked out right after. "Close in now!"

Altena didn't hesitate; she and her dragon soared high up into the skies and quickly tried to reach her brother as fast as she could. Gerome intercepted her path in an instant, but she was uninterested in fighting him.

"Get out of my way!" She yelled. "If you don't, then I will cut you down!"

"You have two choices." Gerome responded bluntly. "Either toss down your weapon, or fight me to the death."

Altena groaned and immediately thrusted the Gae Bolg at Gerome's wyvern. Gerome didn't even flinch as he steered clear of the attack, countering with a swing of his axe. Altena grit her teeth and tried to get away from her opponent, but he was blocking every one of her potential paths as if he was reading her every thought.

"Cunning bastard." Altena cursed with frustration.

Gerome didn't look offended, not that Altena could tell because of his mask.

"I don't care what you think of me." He said. "Your opinions won't deter me from getting in your way."

Altena's blood was beginning to boil, and finally gave in to fighting Gerome. On the ground, Seliph's army was having trouble crossing the bridge above the river below. Kjelle was guarding the bridge while the rest of the children stood together like a stone wall.

"Oh man, my blood is running hot!" Owain screeched. "The blood of warriors pulsing through my veins…I can feel it…don't get near me now… it's about to boil over…AHHHHH!"

"What…the hell…kind of nonsense…is this?!" Ulster shouted between parries. He was slightly alarmed though, for Owain was suddenly swinging his sword with more strength and fervidity. It was as if he was cursed by the Sword of Darkness. Next to Owain, Inigo was trading blows with Larcei, much to his own dissatisfaction.

"Why must I fight a pretty lady like yourself?" Inigo asked as they locked swords. "We could be sitting down and sipping tea together right now."

"Who the hell do you think you are to hit on me?!" Larcei scorned. "And even if we weren't fighting, you're not my type…"

"Huh…?! NO ONE harasses my sister and gets away with it!" Ulster spat. "Larcei, trade enemies!"

Inigo's pupils dilated twice in size. "No, I don't want to fight a man!"

"Inigo, stop flirting, and get your head in the freakin' fight, ya dumbass!" Owain screamed, still caught up in his rage session.

"Oh my gosh, just shut up already!" Severa called out. "God, I can hear both of y'all's annoying, little voices all the way from here!"

Laurent shook his head. "Tsk, so immature. Can't take anything seriously."

The young mage opened his tome and quickly shot a fire spell at Ced, whom dodged it with ease. Cynthia was trying to fight off Fee in the air, but then let Noire take her out while she swooped down to take on Ares when she saw Lucina struggling a bit with him. Morgan and Julia were trading magic spells left and right, one of them nearly hitting Brady.

"Hey watch it!" he yelled angrily. "I'm just a priest!"

"Whoops, hehe, sorry Brady!" Morgan quickly turned around so Brady could see the sincerity on her face, but that distraction alone was enough to give Julia the opportunity to cast another spell.

"Morgan! Watch out!" Yarne shouted as the grandmaster was nearly caught in the blast. Luckily, the Taguel pulled her out of the way just in time, though Brady was almost hit again. The priest was busy cursing his luck when Julius saw this as a chance to take him down and eagerly readied a Goetia spell. He was just about to cast it when Nah attacked him in her dragon form, snarling at him in a menacing, bloodthirsty manner. Julius wasn't even frightened in the slightest and instead casted his Goetia spell towards Nah. The magic only grazed the skin of the Manakete, which to her felt as troublesome as a mosquito bite. Quickly, Nah retaliated with a blast of her dragon breath, holding nothing back. Julius did not escape fast enough and was effortlessly consumed by the divine energy. Julia watched with horror at her twin brother disintegrating into the flames, leaving only a pitiful pile of ash in his position. Before she could make any reaction at all though, Morgan shot a blast of magic from her tome, catching the young mage off guard and ultimately ending her life. Morgan looked at the magic-burnt corpse and could feel tears come to her eyes.

"Morgan…what's wrong?" Yarne asked, confused at the girl's sudden change in behavior.

"Oh, Yarne…I…" Morgan suddenly collapsed into the Taguel's arms, much to his surprise. "What have I done? She didn't deserve to die like that, but…"

Morgan began to cry louder, eventually causing everyone to stop their fighting and to see what the commotion was. Ced let out a heart-broken scream. Seliph felt his heart shatter into a million pieces when he saw his stepsister lifeless on the ground, ash where his stepbrother stood, and an empty saddle on Fee's Pegasus. He let one, no two family members and a comrade die while he could have been there to protect them… that knowledge alone caused a tidal wave of guilt to crash over him and he let out a pain-filled battle-cry.

"GET TO LORD LEIF NOW! HOLD NOTHING BACK!" Seliph heard his voice crack as he shouted and he immediately turned his head to the side, trying to blink away his tears. "I will not let another family member die on me like that…"

His squadron shouted loudly in response and began to force their way through the children's defenses as best they could. The children's resistance was strong, but the Jugdral children's determination was stronger.

Suddenly, Chrom shouted out to his daughter, "Lucina, let them through!"

Lucina seemed a little hesitant, but didn't bother to question her father's decision and ordered the other children to let their enemies break through and get across the bridge. Leif saw this as an opportunity to make his own escape and he quickly fired a blast from his Light Sword at Marth and quickly made his getaway to Seliph's group. For a moment, Seliph and his battalion thought they might have a chance, but that's when they soon realized…that they had sandwiched themselves in between the two enemy groups, which were slowly starting to close in between them.

"Seliph…?" Leif said nervously.

Seliph gulped and answered his cousin, "W-What is it, Leif?"

"You know how you said earlier that you had a bad feeling about this battle?"

"Yes?"

"I…I think it may have come true."

"Hey, Nowi." Said Ricken.

"Hm? What is it, Ricken?" the young Manakete inquired.

"I think you really scared them off when you transformed into a dragon."

"The kid's right." Gaius added. "They ain't coming back anytime soon."

"Damn." Basilio grunted and dug his axe into the ground. "And I was looking forward to a fight."

"I vouldn't speak too soon if I vere you." Athena responded, pointing her sword. "Look."

Basilio looked up and indeed saw someone running towards them. When the figure drew nearer, he could recognize the individual as Edith. The tactician quickly skidded to a stop.

"There's fighting going on in the land across from here." He said. "Chrom wants some of you to help out while he, some others, and I head for the castle. If I call your name, then start heading over to the fighting: Basilio, Gangrel, Yen'fay, Aversa, Miriel, Lon'qu, Olivia, Donnel, Libra, Cordelia, Cherche, Legion, Malice, Walhart, Maribelle, Gregor, and Henry."

"Yes sir." The people responded and began to march towards the fighting. Edith nodded and turned to the people remaining.

"Let's see…" He said. "That leaves us with: Athena, Nowi, Gaius, Ricken, Katarina, Anna, Panne, Priam, Emmeryn, Etzel, and Horace. All right, let's start heading over there, but don't start fighting it. Our strategy here is to flank the enemy from both sides. Katarina, can you flash a signal to Chrom to let him know that we're ready?"

The sage nodded and raised a hand in the air, summoning a quick lightning bolt to streak across the sky in a bright flash. From afar, Chrom recognized the signal and quickly scanned his eyes around in search of the group he was planning on bringing with him.

"Lucina, Tiki, Kellam, Lis, and Lord Marth." He belted out. "We're getting ready to storm the fortress."

Marth was about to comply, but suddenly he found himself clashing against Seliph and Leif. Lucina noticed the struggle and immediately engaged herself in a fight against Leif to aid Marth.

"Go on without us, Chrom!" Marth shouted out. "We might be a while."

Chrom hesitated, but then decided to let them handle everything. The field was becoming a one-sided massacre. Altena failed to notice the various archers on the ground and was shot out of the sky, much to Leif's devastation. Lon'qu and Basilio ganged up on Ares and felled him instantly. Cordelia, Catria, Cherche, and Gerome circled around Arthur and Ced, whom were trying to attack Olivia and Donnel, to distract them while Libra, Miriel, Aversa, and Henry overwhelmed them with magic, both dark and light. Their dying screams of pain distracted the Isaachian twins while they were battling Yen'fay and Malice, and that eventually caused them to be slaughtered by Legion and Gangrel. Walhart previously tried to fight off Leif and Seliph, but the two were fast-paced and were able to land multiple attacks on him before going off to fight Marth and Lucina. Maribelle sighed as she healed the armored man's multiple wounds.

"Gosh, everyone's carelessness is making me work so much harder than usual." The troubadour muttered. "I hope you're happy, Edi."

"Lord Seliph!" Marth said as he dodged and blocked every one of Seliph's attacks. "Please listen! You don't have to fall here today. Just simply throw down your weapon and…"

"Out of the question." Seliph simply responded. "You killed off my friends and family. If I surrender now, then their deaths would mean nothing. I intend on fighting with the last bit of strength I have…no matter the outcome."

Marth's face fell as he continued to strike at his opponent. A pained yell pierced his eardrum and found out that Lucina had defeated Leif with a stab to the chest. Seliph turned his head away as well, leaving his defense wide open. As soon as Marth noticed this, he jumped on the chance and slashed open Seliph's abdomen. The young prince was caught completely off guard and fell to the ground, grasping his bleeding wound.

"Seliph…I'm…sorry…" Leif choked out to his cousin. "These…these people…they're not of…this world…"

"Leif…no…" Seliph coughed as Leif closed his eyes and let death take him. Seliph felt a pang of remorse, but it wasn't that great. He knew he would follow shortly after. Marth glanced down sadly at his fallen opponent and knelt next to his side.

"Forgive me, Lord Seliph." He muttered. "I…I never saw you as a bad man. I didn't even want to fight you, but…"

"Stop…Lord Marth." Seliph whispered faintly. "You…wanted to protect your kingdom. I…I would have done the same…you're a…good man, Lord Marth. It breaks my heart…that things had to…had to…come to this. I feel…we could have been…friends…"

Seliph gave out one last breath, then his chest fell still and his entire body went limp. Marth sighed and closed his eyes.

"Peace comes with a price, Mar-Mar." The young king looked up and saw Tiki standing over him. Slowly, he rose to his feet and found out with a shock that this version of Tiki was not a child, but a young woman. However, something didn't seem right. He saw the child Tiki get slain in the chaos hours ago, but the adult Tiki still remained…but how?

"I'm sure they knew that too." She continued.

"Tiki, you're…you've grown." Marth stammered. "But I don't…understand?"

"Time is a complicated thing." The Manakete responded. "But we'll discuss it later. Right now, we have one last thing to do."

"Ah, yes. You're right." Marth was bewildered and a little surprised at Tiki's maturity, but shook his head and drew his sword out of the ground. He decided he would mourn for the casualties of this battle later, and ran to meet up with Chrom.

Arden, who was standing guard at the bridge, went wide-eyed when he saw Chrom and Marth leading a small battalion towards them.

"Oi, Lord Sigurd!" He called. "The Archanean king- Marth was it- well he's still alive and with more people. They're heading this way right now!"

"What?!" Sigurd exclaimed, worry starting to wash over him. "And…what of Seliph?"

"And Altena and Leif?" Ethlyn followed up.

"Or any of the other children?" Deirdre added.

"I-I don't think they…survived."

Deirdre screamed as Sigurd's face went pale. Ethlyn buried her face into Quan's chest, sobbing hysterically while the paladin shook his head in disbelief at what he just heard. The other parents were in the same state: devastated, heartbroken, and extremely overwhelmed with anguish. They let their children go off without any question, but now that they were killed…it felt as though they sent them to their deaths themselves. They didn't have time to wallow in their own sorrows however because suddenly, the roars of footsteps and battle cries were heard coming their way as two small armies were approaching from both sides.

"Everyone, get ready." Sigurd commanded, barely keeping himself from getting choked up. "We…we'll have to grieve later. Right now, we have to take care of the enemy. They're small in numbers so…"

"S-Sigurd…" Quan said, wiping unshed tears from his eyes. "Even if we kill them off, more will just show up. This probably isn't even half of their army."

"They just came so suddenly…and took our children away from us..." Ethlyn mumbled in her husband's clothing, clearly disturbed.

Sigurd let out a distressed sigh. "Then…we'll just have to fight as best as we can. For our children."

Ayra glared at her sword and held it in a readied position. Raquesis blocked the image of her husband and daughter lying bloodied on the ground and prepared her steed. Lewyn and Arvis opened their tomes, Jamke examined his bows and quiver, and Ethlyn managed to collect herself to draw her own weapon.

"Arden, prepare yourself." Sigurd instructed the armored knight.

Right when Arden was about to answer, a lightning bolt struck him, electrocuting him from the inside. Edith flipped another page in his tome and fired another shot of lightning at Jamke, whom was barely able to get himself out of the attack range.

"They're here!" Sigurd shouted. "Attack!"

"This is the final wave of enemies." Edith barked out. "Get ready!"

Tiki and Nowi immediately transformed into their dragon forms and headed after Arvis. Athena, Panne, and Priam teamed up against Ayra and Jamke. Lucina immediately went after Quan and Ethlyn with Edith and Chrom backing her up. Horace and Kellam protected weaker soldiers like Ricken and Gaius. Lissa was trying to help her sister Emmeryn fight Raquesis, but the battle cleric was unaware of Lewyn getting ready to attack her. Katarina noticed this however, and immediately jumped in front of her to intercept the spell. The intensity of the blast was much more critical than she expected, and she fell to the ground, gasping for breath. Lissa noticed the sage fall right next to her, causing her to let out a panicked shriek as she tried to save her life.

"You…you took that for me?!" Lissa stammered. "Don't worry, I...I-I'll save you. Hang on..."

Katarina trembled in pain, wheezing heavily. "Lord Marth…have I…atoned for my sins...?"

Lissa's heart dropped when Katarina fell lifeless. A hand gripped her shoulder, and she looked up to see Emmeryn staring sympathetically down at her. Raquesis had retreated to go aid Lewyn, whom was fighting with Etzel, leaving just the two sisters.

"Emmeryn…" Lissa closed her eyes.

"Lissa…don't grieve…" Emmeryn slurred. "She…protected you…honor her decision…"

Lissa sniffled and allowed Emmeryn to help her onto her feet. From the side, Anna looked at the scene with desolation.

"Guess we won't be able to have that talk after this." She sighed.

The fighting was starting to get difficult, but nobody would let their strength give out just yet. Etzel badly injured Lewyn, but Deirdre was able to take him out with no problem. Ricken was almost the victim of Arvis's Valflame, but luckily Nowi was able to get him out of there just in time. Gaius hurled dagger after dagger in the hopes of catching Ayra off guard, but the swordswoman was too focused on her opponents to let it bother her. Jamke shot multiple arrows into Tiki's skin, some successfully penetrated her softer areas under her belly, forcing her to withdraw so Lissa could heal her. Edith himself felt himself becoming drained. He could already begin to notice how the enemies they were fighting now were starting to get the upper hand. Panne was losing a lot of blood from fighting Ayra and had to quickly retreat, Athena was defeated not too long after, leaving Priam to just fight her himself, which was already starting to prove to be a difficult challenge. Ethlyn shot a blast of Arcthunder at Kellam. Even though Gaius tried to step in, both of them ended up getting critically singed by the magic.

"Gaius, you and Kellam get outta here!" Edith shouted.

"Hey, but…!" Gaius started to protest, but Kellam weakly gripped his arm.

"Please, Gaius…" He wheezed. "We'll die if we continue like this.

With a defeated groan, Gaius reluctantly but quickly removed themselves from the fighting. Edith cursed again when he realized that there weren't many of them left. If the situation didn't change soon, then they would all die and it would affect not only this world, but their other world beyond the gate. Something clicked inside Edith's mind as he came to that realization, and he suddenly felt overcome with a stronger sense of determination. He flipped open his tome again and fired a powerful blast of magic at Arvis, right when the sorcerer was about to attack Nowi, and killed him right on the spot.

"Chrom!" Edith shouted. "We have to finish this!"

"Right!" Chrom broke through Quan and Ethlyn's defense and stood back to back with his tactician. "Everyone! Give it all you've got! Let's end this battle right now!"

Lucina grit her teeth together as she pushed her body beyond her limits, successfully knocking Quan and Ethlyn off their horses. They continued to fight against her, however, but with the help of Horace, Lucina was able to stab Ethlyn in her stomach as Horace easily pierced Quan's chest, ending both of their lives instantly. Ricken and Edith both unleashed their magic on Jamke and Ayra, giving Priam the chance to finish off Ayra and then killing Jamke shortly thereafter. Chrom dodged an attack from Lewyn, and immediately slaughtered him and Raquesis while Marth finished off Deirdre. The only one left standing was Sigurd, who was stricken with the shock of witnessing friends and family getting massacred at once. All his mind registered was that there was no one else who could possibly turn the tide for him now, and drew his sword with a shaky hand, ready to go down with a fight.

"You're still going to fight us…?" Marth asked incredulously.

"All my friends and family are gone." Sigurd replied with a dull tone in his voice. He was so numb after everything that happened. "It's hopeless for me to fight now, but I'm not going to stop here. Just…do me one favor. Don't hold back…come at me with full force!"

Marth looked pitifully at the despairing lord in front of him, but a nod from Chrom encouraged him to proceed. Marth slashed open Sigurd's chest, spraying blood all over his white attire. Sigurd actually retaliated and ended up cutting open Marth's shoulder, but with not enough power to damage it much. Chrom followed up with a critical blow to Sigurd's abdomen, and that was the final strike that finally ended with Sigurd of Chaphy's untimely death.

"You've done well…Prince of Light…" Sigurd rasped. "My people of Jugdral…forgive me…"

"It's done." Marth stated when Sigurd closed his eyes. There was a tone to the young man's voice that showed that he was neither relieved, nor satisfied at the victory. Broken weapons and corpses littered the once lively grounds of Jugdral. A breeze traveled across the lands, wafting the stench of battle, blood, and death eerily through the atmosphere. Deep down, Marth felt horrible…he felt like a murderer. It wasn't the first time he took this many lives, but never once had he fought in a battle quite like this one. He didn't know any of these people, but he could see the look of pain on their faces whenever he cut down one of their own. He could see the exact same look on his own soldiers whenever the blood of his allies was spilled. Winning this battle would not bring his friends back, nor would it bring him satisfaction. The only thing he obtained out of this was an empty sense of accomplishment, knowing that he was actually able to protect his kingdom from disaster. And despite the darkness in his heart, he was grateful for Chrom and his army for showing up when they did.

"Lord Chrom…I owe my life to you." Marth said. "If you hadn't shown up…I doubt my soldiers and I would have survived."

"It was no problem." Chrom responded. "Edith was the one who decided to lend you a hand."

"Now that you mention him…where is your tactician anyways?"

"Hm?" Chrom looked around, but the blonde was no where in sight. "Yes…where did he go?"

"Splendid, Edith, splendid!" The old man applauded as if he finished watching a play. "That was very exhilarating! Why, I haven't been this much on the edge of my seat since my days of going to the arena! You sure know how to make your old man worry, my grandchild."

Edith said nothing as he watched his grandfather bounce up and down like a child. Once he was able to calm himself down, he released a content sigh and threw his arm around his grandson's shoulder.

"Quite the fight." He blabbered on. "I thought you were going to die a couple times back there."

"Gee, thanks for being supportive." Edith shrugged his grandfather's arm off his shoulder. "I hate to inform you that while you were right here, having a grand ole time watching us spill our enemies' blood and guts, we were on the front lines of battle, quailing the entire time. We tore families apart…and how did we make it up to them? We gutted and incinerated them. It…it was horrible. Way worse than fighting off corpse soldiers in our time."

"I understand how you feel." The old man said with sympathy. "I could tell by all the looks on everyone's devastated faces that you were not enjoying this."

"OF COURSE WE DIDN'T ENJOY IT!"

"Calm down, calm down. Gosh, I'm not THAT deaf, you know. Anyways, I am a man of my word. So hopefully this will make up for your struggles."

The old man pulled out his pouch and withdrew from it a shiny talisman: Leif.

"Leif, eh?" Edith pocketed it away. "Heh…the irony. We kill him in battle and now he will be helping us."

"All's well that ends well, right?" His grandfather flashed a toothy grin. He moved towards his orb, muttered a few words, and then smashed it onto the ground, letting it shatter into a million pieces. Edith stared wide-eyed as his mind attempted to register what just happened.

"Uh, Grandfather? What did you just do that for?" was all he could come up with.

"That orb was where I concentrated the timelines to create the scenarios for that battle." He said, sweeping the shards away. "You see, if I continued to let that universe exist, its past would eventually blend with the original past…creating just one big historical mess."

"Is that so? Well…what happens to the figures who are living in that timeline?"

"Oh, nothing that harmful, that's for sure. They may experience some dizziness, nausea, fainting spells, disorientation, strange hallucinations, or nightmares. It should only last about a day or two for them. I think you and your comrades are the only ones who will actually remember anything though. But check your history books; you'll see that nothing has changed."

"Wow, you…really have everything figured out."

"Heh, like I said, don't underestimate me, Edith. I know exactly what I'm doing. In fact, I may teach you what I know someday."

The blonde man snorted as he turned his heel to leave. "Psh, no thanks. The last thing I want to become is a sadistic hermit."

Surprisingly, the old man thought that comment was more hysterical rather than offensive. "Oh by the way, when are you coming by again?"

Edith froze. "What…do you mean by that?"

His grandfather grinned as he held up another orb, revealing two young men: one with fiery red hair, the other with spiky blue hair. By the looks of it, they were on the verge of breaking out into a ferocious battle.

"That is…" Edith started in disbelief.

"I already have another battle planned out." He explained. "But you better hurry if you want to catch it. The fun…is only about to begin…"

A/N: Battle scenes are NOT my favorite thing to do in the world, but I found some motivation to get them written down while listening to "This is War" by Thirty Seconds to Mars and "Some Nights" by Fun. I've never before had so many feels for the characters as I wrote this, especially for the Jugdral people. I mean, they're all family and their lives are already pretty much tragic in-game. Hopefully I haven't antagonized Marth's side too much…after all he was supposed to be the good guy. Up next: Roy vs. Ike