Story: Lyn, Hard Mode.

Tactician Data-
Name: Marisa.
Birth Month: September. (Affinity: Fire.)
Gender: Female.

Notes: Excuse my long absence. I should be pretty busy in the coming weeks but I will try to update as often as I can. Thank you for your patience. I'm going to try to get back into this story as best I can, but I've been writing a lot of other stuff recently, so excuse me if anything sounds weird. For example, I wrote the first part of this chapter before I quit for awhile, so the writing style might randomly change halfway through. I know there's still a lot of editing I need to do for the last couple chapters, so...

Also, another point. I am not sure if FanFiction updated while I was gone or something, but I figured out how to see followers, favorites, views, etc. You guys! I'm so thrilled! Thank you so much!

Respondation.

ExposedWiresExposedVeins: Thanks for the corrections again. Yeah, I guess I didn't realize that I didn't exactly put Dorcas in that conversation... it's fixed now. In other news, I'm going to try posting on that forum and see what happens... thank you for recommending it to me. And with that, enjoy this chapter.

SpeedDemon315: Thanks so much for your reviews! I was so pleased to get back on FanFiction and see my reviews go from 7/8 to 11. I was like, "Yay someone else is reading!" Haha, but anyway.
Though "f" was supposed to be short for a swear word, I do plan on making her shout random letters to vent her frustration... "F! Q! P! Aagh!" "Marisa, this isn't a spelling bee... and even if it was, you would be losing. Can I have my orders, please?"
Yeah, Marisa's sarcasm seems to be everybody's favorite thing about this book. I personally think she's quite funny. She keeps thing from getting too dull. And about the Kent/Marcus deal... I never, ever, ever use Marcus. He sucks. I only very recently started using cavaliers at all, and I did enjoy Kent. We will see what happens in this playthrough. I was trying to catch up to where I am in the book on my emulator, and Kent kept dying on CH4 because I wasn't being careful. I was like, "...*Twitch*... *Resets*"
As for all the stuff about Marisa's past, you will just have to wait and see ;) We aren't told everything about it until somewhere around chapter 35-40, but I reveal stuff as we go. Anyway, please enjoy the coming chapters!

Bartholomew Kamiro: I really appreciate your lengthy review, it did a lot to help me. I thank you for your praise and encouraging words. I think it's really good idea to change up the number of people I bring into battles... that would make things interesting! I will definitely try to do so in the future (when I get to choose in-game XD).
I think you also make a good point about people skipping over the game's dialogue. I have begun reading your fic and that was one thing I enjoyed about it (don't worry, I will get to actually reviewing it soon). I will try to change it up a bit but I feel some sort of strange need to use the game's script. As if I should. So I guess we'll see what happens.
I guess I didn't really realize the whole virus/bacteria deal, I'm bad about catching stuff like that. Thanks for pointing it out, I'll definitely have to go back and change that up.
About the whole first/third person thing, I was really torn when I started this fic about which to use. The only problem with switching now is that I'd have to go back and do a whole bunch of editing and whatnot. I'm considering changing it when I finish Lyn's story, since I will probably do a ton of editing at that point anyway.
I thank you for your review and hope you continue to do so. I hope you enjoy the rest of the book.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem. Isn't that amazing? I am among the millions (probably billions) of people who do not own Fire Emblem... When you meet someone who DOES own Fire Emblem, take me to meet them. Cause that would be cool.

Chapter Five-
Objective: Defeat enemy.
Enemies: 7.
Units/characters: Marisa, Lyn, Kent, Sain, Florina, Wil, Dorcas.
Units/characters obtained: Serra, Erk.

Chapter Five: Beyond the Borders

"We've almost reached the Lycian border," Kent stated, looking out at the empty plains ahead. We all seemed excited that we were getting so close.

"Once we cross, we'll be safe from the bandits, right?" Lyn questioned excitedly.

"We should be," Wil answered, glancing back to her only briefly. "I doubt they'll be willing to pursue us across the border." They were stupid and persistent, but I had to agree with Wil on that one... I doubted they would continue to chase us into Lycia. It was a much more populated nation, with marquesses that would actually hunt them down.

"Lycia at last!" Sain shouted up to the sky, leaning back and throwing his arms out to his sides as if to hug the clouds. "It's been a long time. Tomorrow, we'll dine on a feast of Lycia's finest foods!" A huge grin crossed his face, "And the mistress of the inn at the crossing is said to be a beauty. Ah, yes... Food and love. No better way to restore a man's soul!" Lyn rolled her eyes playfully. Sain gave Kent a sideways glance, "This is going to be a fine evening, eh, Kent?"

"If your behavior is as deplorable as ever, we'd best stay elsewhere. We're not here for sightseeing!" Kent protested.

"Oh, come now! That's not fair!" whined Sain.

"Kent, the inn will be fine," Lyn cut in, probably tired of hearing them argue.

Kent bowed his head just slightly, defeated, "As you say, milady." Sain seemed overjoyed, turning to Lyn with a huge smile.

"Lyndis! You truly are an angel from on high!" he declared poetically.

"It's nothing. Forget it," Lyn insisted, walking on ahead of him.

"Ah!" Florina yawned, stretching, "We'll finally be able to get a good night's sleep." Not sleeping on the ground did sound quite nice, I had to admit. I was rather looking forward to staying in an inn... Less humidity. Blankets. A bed. My own space. Walls to change behind. Fresh food. Less noise- no wait, Sain would be in the building... Nevertheless, it sounded like a good time to me.

"...Hey, Marisa," said Wil, tapping my shoulder. I looked back at him to find him pointing into the distance. Peering behind us at the mountains, I could make out the outlines of more axe monkeys heading this way. I sighed anxiously; did they never give up?

"Oh, no..." Lyn seemed to notice them as well. "Those bandits are persistent, I'll give them that much." Everyone who wasn't looking turned their head just in time to see the rogues approaching us.

"Ah! Here they are! I found 'em!" one declared, motioning for more to come.

"What? Not again! They're still after us?" asked Wil in disbelief, taking a few steps backwards. I, as usual, was observing the scene while cowering behind everyone else.

"Heh heh heh..." cackled the lead bandit, "Don't think you're getting away so easily!"

"You leave alive, and everyone'll think the Ganelon Bandits have gone soft!" a different bandit chimed in. I scoffed; what did we care? Aside from, of course, the fact that they were trying to kill us.

"So? We care nothing for you or your reputations!" Lyn spat back defensively, standing with her feet apart and her fists clenched. "We must get to Lycia! Get in our way, and you'll pay!" She was more frustrated and angry than I had ever seen her. She meant business, I could tell. Well, we'd be making more monkey pie out of them at this rate...

"Cheeky little thing, aren't you?" hissed the lead bandit. Then, as he turned back to the others, "Let's get 'em, lads! And no holding back just 'cause there's women with 'em! Wipe 'em out!"

His disgusting accent and general disregard for the Elibian language were repulsing me. I couldn't stand the way bandits spoke around this place. I was so ready to be done with them.

The lead bandit moved to stand a good distance away from us. Hmph, coward. It wouldn't save him from death. The others began to move away a few steps, so I did the same. A few more bandits emerged from the northern and eastern mountains. I looked over the area in front of us... An archer. I would have to watch that. A couple of sword-users, a few axe monkeys... I scoffed again- this was going to be easy.

"Eeeeeeek! Eeeeeeek! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!" I heard all of the sudden, off to my right. We all whipped our heads to look eastward. I could see through the thick trees a light, but only briefly. Lyn and I glanced at each other worriedly.

"That scream..." Lyn looked wildly through the trees for a moment, and then gasped quietly. "Look! Marisa, someone's over there!" Without waiting for me to respond, she rushed off through the trees. I turned back to the others.

"Everyone stay here for just a second." With that, I was off after Lyn. That was the first time I really noticed that running didn't wear me out so much. It made me smile just briefly before I remembered that I was doing something and began to focus again.

"Um, excuse me... Hello?" Lyn called as she reached the edge of the trees. We were currently stuck between the small forest and some tall hills.

"Hm?" I heard a female mutter. As I reached Lyn's side, I saw that there was not only a dead bandit lying nearby, and a lady, probably the one who had screamed, but also a young man. And judging by their clothes...

Magic-users! So cool!

"Why are you fighting these bandits?" Lyn questioned quickly. The boy was clearly injured- it wasn't too big but still enough to cause some bleeding.

They shot each other strange looks, and the boy turned toward us with an annoyed expression. "...It just happened."

"That's not true!" the girl cut in, "Those ruffians thought that we were with you!" She stomped her foot angrily, making me cringe back a little. Lyn just looked sorry. "You got us into a terrible situation!" I hardly suppressed a laugh; I guess maybe she wasn't used to being face-to-face with death like I was, but it wasn't like we weren't going to whip them into whipped cream. "Now, how are you going to get us out?" So demanding... and SO loud.

"Serra, if you'd not been so meddlesome, this all could have been avoided," the boy disagreed, pressing one hand to his wound. He turned to Lyn, "My apologies. Please trouble yourself with us no more." He, on the other hand, was polite, reserved... charming. I did have a thing for mages... I exhaled briefly. No, Marisa. No. Just focus.

"But... if you're going to have to fight anyway, shouldn't we team up?" Lyn offered. "It will end things faster, right?"

"That's true," said the woman thoughtfully. Then she exclaimed, "Yes! That's a good idea." She turned to the boy, "Erk! Go and help these ladies."

"But I..." He barely had time to protest.

"Very good," Lyn cut him off, probably without realizing it. "My name's Lyn. So tell me, will you join arms with us?" It couldn't be that easy...

"Yes, we'd be glad to," the lady agreed. "My name is Serra. This is my escort, Erk." Well, she seemed polite enough now... "Be a good boy, and go fight now, Erk." Except she treated him like a dog... or maybe a two-year-old.

As Erk sighed, Lyn and Serra proceeded to leave us and return to the rest of the group.

"Hi," I said suddenly. He must have been lost in his thoughts, for he seemed startled when I spoke. "I'm Marisa. I'm the tactician."

"Oh... a tactician... yes. We will follow your orders, of course, milady..." He was being polite, but he seemed lost in his own little world. He seemed reluctant to get involved in the fight, but he didn't really have a choice anymore.

"...Thank you. We should be getting back. Please come with me..."

His eyes darted behind me, through the trees. "Watch out!"*1 He shoved me aside, raising his arms to cast. After a spin, he stuck his arms out, fire materializing from his palms and shooting through the air and into the trees. I heard someone cry out in pain, watching a bandit archer fall to the ground lifelessly. Still in a bit of shock knowing that one of his arrows would have been in my back if not for Erk, I stared at the bandit's corpse for awhile. But eventually I shook my head, bringing myself back to reality. He must have been playing dead to avoid drawing attention to himself, as I had noticed the corpse as we had approached.

"Thank you," I finally breathed in response.

After returning to the others, Serra took the time to heal Erk's wound. He seemed to be doing better after that, so I turned to the others, who were expectantly awaiting my orders. The closest two enemies were a brigand, to the north of us, and a mercenary, who seemed to be closing in on Erk and Serra.

"Sain, cover them!" I shouted, pointing in that direction. Thankfully, he knew exactly what to do, rushing in that direction with his lance brandished. As he did, the brigand began to descend upon us. "Kent!"

Kent was ready with his sword. I trusted them to handle their battles and turned back to the others. "Florina, fly in that direction and see what's over there." I pointed over the nearby forested area, surrounded with tall, mountainous hills and completed with a small lake. She took off over the water.

I turned back to my cavaliers, and Kent was just finishing his battle without taking a single hit. I looked to Sain just in time to see him miss, but Wil approached before the mercenary could counterattack, shooting him down. I smiled to myself; it seemed as though everyone seemed to really be improving. I beckoned the others to follow me as I cautiously led the way around the trees.

Just as another bandit was approaching from the east, I spotted Florina returning. "Lyn, take him out," I ordered as I pointed at the new enemy. She wasted no time rushing him, dodging him and slicing twice to create a dead axeman.

"I only saw a swordsman and an axeman down there," Florina was reporting to me, making me pay attention to her. She was holding a small wound in her arm but seemed to be ignoring it pretty well. "The swordsman attacked me, and... well, I defeated him, but..."

"Serra," I called for the healer girl. She was at my side in an instant. "Would you heal Florina for me, please?"

She grinned slyly. "Of course! Watch my healing powers at work!" She raised her staff with one hand and held the opposite palm toward Florina. I watched with my jaw open as the wound disappeared in a flash of green light. Healing powers were truly so amazing...

I turned back to the others, who were staring at me expectantly, seeming to be waiting for their next orders. I took the time to survey our enemies; there was an archer crouched behind a faraway hill, and I knew that their leader was somewhere farther south, though he was currently out of sight because of all the trees and hills.

"Wil," I called, and he stepped up readily. "The archer over there... draw him out. Lyn, as soon as he comes this way, you have to be ready to back Wil up. Alright?"

They nodded in understanding, and Wil stepped out into the open, holding his bow at ready. The archer emerged and fired an arrow at Wil, just as I had suspected. Wil fired in return as soon as he had a clear shot, the arrows passing each other and both hitting their intended targets.

Lyn stepped out and rushed the archer, who had no time to even think about retreating before he was stricken dead. Serra was already healing Wil without me having to ask her, so I walked to Lyn's side. From where she was standing, we had a clear view of the lead bandit, who was standing in place and just waiting for us to kill him.

"Ready to take on another enemy?" I asked with a little grin.

She returned my grin with one of her own. "Always." I ordered the others to accompany us, though I did not plan for them to be fighting anymore. I glanced over the group as we went, carefully checking for injuries I might have missed and weren't announced. There didn't seem to be any, so I focused on where we were going.

"Go." My order was simple, but Lyn knew what to do by then. She approached the bandit, pausing just short of him among some trees.

The bandit growled. "You're going to learn why people fear the Ganelon Bandits!"

Lyn only scoffed in return as she made the first move. The battle did not take long. The others and I watched as their blades danced, Lyndis blocking or dodging his heavy axe as she sliced him repeatedly with her sword. The bandit leader let out a loud groan as the final blow landed, backing up and dropping his axe.

"Blaaaaah... Scum... You're all scum..." he jeered at us before falling over motionlessly. We all watched him carefully for just a moment before Lyn pulled back and sheathed her sword.

She turned to me with a soft smile. "Nicely done, Marisa. That should just about do it."

"What a surprise. You are very strong, Lyn," commented Serra almost immediately, walking to Lyn's other side. Erk followed her uncomfortably, as if unsure of what to do.

"Your staff is a wondrous thing," Lyn replied with her usual friendly smile. "Healing powers amaze me." Her and me both, it seemed. I was sure it was nothing to the magic-users, who trained constantly around such things, but to me, it was something special.

"Only those in the service of good can wield them," smiled Serra, a hint of pride in her voice. I knew she meant clerics, priests, bishops, and others who worked with the church. It was as if such powers came only from the legendary Elimine herself...

"You helped us tremendously," thanked Lyn with a little head-bow. She turned back to the others now, "Well, it's time for us to go."

"Take care," said Serra as Erk stepped a little closer to her side. He seemed anxious to leave. "Goodbye, Lyn."

"Fare you well. You too, Erk," said Lyn to the silent mage.

"Goodbye," Erk bowed his head low, making my stomach flutter. He was so well-mannered... I shook my head, trying to focus. I was sad to see them go, but I couldn't blame them for wanting to get away from us after all the trouble we had caused them.

Serra and Erk only walked a short distance before stopping, probably to check themselves over and prepare to depart. Lyn turned to me soon after.

"I found a bandit carrying this," she held out a brand new iron sword toward me. "I decided it was a good idea to take it."

"Good move," I complimented. "Why don't you hang onto it for now? You can use that instead of the Mani Katti after your other sword gets too beat up, if you'd like." She nodded to me. I sighed, sensing a status update was needed before we left, just in case the others had picked anything up or they had anything interesting to report. As soon as I was finished checking with Sain, he was off in their direction.

"Sain, don't harass them," I called, but he probably didn't hear me, as my voice had decided to change back to its quiet setting. He seemed to go immediately to flirting with her. I let that one go, turning back to the others and focusing on what I was doing. Worst case, Serra would whack him over the head with her staff, and maybe that would teach him a thing or two.

Just as I was finishing up, Sain came riding up to Lyn and I. "Lady Lyndis! Marisa! I have the greatest news. Lady Serra and her escort Erk have decided to accompany us! With your permission, of course." He watched Lyn expectantly.

Lyn smiled hugely, "Of course! We could use all the help we could get..."

Serra was back at Lyn's side in an instant. "Excellent! Thank you so much, Lyn! We look forward to traveling in your company."

I was practically bouncing with excitement; a healer and a mage added to our ranks... now things were getting serious. I wanted to shout to the sky, "Look out, world! We're coming through and nothing can stop us!" I felt like we were invincible. Our group was well-rounded and we had obliterated every enemy to challenge us this far.

I dropped my smile after awhile, though. What was I doing? I couldn't afford to get so attached to these people... especially if one of them were to fall, and it was all my fault. We weren't friends, I reminded myself. I would try to make an effort not to be so antisocial, but other than that, I wouldn't allow myself to get my hopes up that much.

"So what is our next destination?" Erk was asking as I began to pay attention to the group's conversation once more.

"Araphen," answered Kent pointedly.

My stomach dropped and I almost choked on nothing.

"Did you say Araphen?" I sputtered in disbelief.

Kent shot me a curious look as he nodded in response. I grimaced to myself; I had been purposely avoiding that area for years. I supposed it really was right on the way to Caelin, but all the same, I wished I didn't have to go back...

"Marisa?" Lyn cut in, shooting me a concerned look. "Is something wrong?"

I mentally cursed her for asking me right there in front of everyone, because now everyone was staring at me. I pulled the hood of my cloak over my face to hide my expression as I turned away dismally.

"Nothing," I hissed. "Let's go." I was off without waiting for anyone else.

I feel like this chapter was a little pathetic, but I'm trying my best to get back into the swing of things. I hope to improve by next time. (I am already positive that the next chapter will be a LOT longer at the very least.) Any constructive criticism is both welcome and appreciated.
I didn't really realize it until just now, but something pretty big happens next chapter! Thank you to everyone who reviewed and will review. I hope you enjoyed. See you next time.

*1= The NPC Erk killed the enemy, and he just sat on the map with 0/20 hp... So I decided to try and put it in the story somehow.