Author's Note

It's been a long time since I've had such a quick turn-around on a chapter. Don't get used to it, I just really didn't want to finish my Linguistics Essay… Still don't.

I find that Marth/Lucina tends to steal the spotlight pretty heavily when she's around; despite the way the SI is treating her, she is still one of my favorite characters. However I will, as I promised, be giving the other characters equal amounts of attention.

Oh, and Ricken is officially a metallover-harem-member now. Aw yeah. Getting all bishonen up in that shit.

Not really. I just wanted to freak people out. Metallover is all about the ladies.

Remember I'm doing a podcast? CAB Anime and Gaming, new episodes every second Thursday! Find us on Soundcloud and iTunes, and make sure you follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Read, review and Nagaspeed!


Part the Eighth, or "From Hell's Heart"

I grimaced a little, watching the Plegians from a distance. Gangrel had indeed swallowed our bait and taken to the field himself when word that Chrom was leading a force of Ylissean Knights personally had reached him. At least fifty heavily armored soldiers clustered around the King's Banner, that slimy little shit Gangrel no doubt right beneath it surrounded by a wall of bodies.

On top of the Royal Guard, which was simply how I was thinking of them, there were at least twice as many conscripts in front of them and at their flanks. But these men, they looked like they wanted to be there about as much as I did. If they didn't break when Chrom ploughed through their ranks, they would when my team did.

I felt kind of sorry for them, but this was a war and I was not planning on dying today.

I shuffled silently back through the bushes, leaving Lon'qu to watch the Plegians until Chrom's team attacked, just like we had planned. A little way back, just down in a small ditch behind the trees, the rest of the team was waiting anxiously.

Ricken looked up from where he was flipping through his spellbook, nervously trying to choose the right spells for our opening assault. Olivia was next to him, jittering and casting constant glances up the hill at the trees. I couldn't blame her either; pretty thing like her, I hated to think of what those Plegians would do to her if we lost. Panne, on the other hand, was as cool as Lon'qu, sitting and waiting patiently and possibly getting some sick satisfaction from watching the manspawn all so nervous. Maribelle was, for once, ignoring me as she prayed under her breath with her eyes closed. Tharja simply tracked my progress, and I gave her a reassuring smile when our eyes met. Of course she blushed and looked away, but that was to be expected. At least she clearly wasn't nervous.

I stopped next to Marth, who was sitting separate to the others, and squatted down next to her. She was fingering the grip on her new sword anxiously, despite outwardly looking cool and composed.

"Nervous?" I asked softly, hoping to get a rise and get her mind off of the impending battle.

"Hardly," she scoffed. "I am no stranger to war. I only wish I had had more of a chance to train with this new sword."

I snickered and shook my head, glancing back up the hill.

"You know, I never signed on for this," I muttered absently.

"Yet here you are," Marth said.

"Yeah," I sighed. "Here I am, shitting my pants."

Marth gave me a sideways look, obviously wondering if I was simply trying to bait her.

"Why confide in me, then?" she asked softly. "Just about all of the others would gladly shoulder your fears with you. I was under the impression you were not fond of me."

"Because I don't give a shit what you think," I snickered.

"Thank you oh so much," Marth deadpanned, glaring at me.

"Let me word that a little better," I said, holding my hands up apologetically. "I mean you know I'm not from this world, and you know I'm not a military commander. So I don't have to fake it around you."

Marth nodded, grunting a little placated.

"I admit to… having some butterflies in my stomach," she muttered after a moment.

"Don't worry," I assured her. "We got this. There's still a lot to do to save this world. At least three more years of stuff. We can't die here."

Marth gave me another glance, the ghost of a smile playing at her lips.

"It is at times like this I feel some respect growing for you," she said honestly. I even… think we could be friends."

"Friends with benefits?" I asked, waggling my eyebrows.

"And just like that, the feeling is gone," she sighed, looking away from me.

"Aw, c'mon, lighten up," I laughed quietly.

"What is it you say so often? 'Fuck off'?" Marth growled at me.

"Ooh, it's catching," I snickered, rising to my feet. "I can tell when I'm not wanted. Sit here alone with your butterflies until we attack, then."

"At least they are not as annoying," she shot back.


There was a loud roar from the Plegians as Chrom's team came into view, the Prince himself at the head of the small force with Frederick waving House Ylisse's banner beside him. I watched as a few squads of Ylissean soldiers, who had come with us to bolster Chrom's team's ranks a little, spread out into position behind the Shepherds as they marched towards the enemy.

"How come we don't get back-up?" I moaned petulantly.

"This was your plan," Lon'qu reminded me.

"Yeah, don't remind me," I sighed.

If worst came to worst Cordelia and the rest of the Pegasus Knights from Ylisse would come and save our bacon, but I was really hoping we wouldn't need it.

All of us were arrayed in the small copse of trees above the ditch now, watching carefully for the perfect moment to attack. That moment would be when all of the conscripts were engaged and we had a straight shot at the Royal Guard.

With a lusty roar the Ylisseans charged, Chrom's sword doing that cool blue flamey thing as he raced at their front.

"You know, as heroic as it is, having the commander of the army racing into battle with the first rank doesn't really make sense from a tactical perspective," I pointed out. "Neither does having the army's tactician lead a flanking force separated from the main group either, for that matter. How am I supposed to do my job from the bushes?"

"Quit complaining, manspawn," Panne said from next to me. "You are giving me a headache."

"Yeah, yeah," I sighed.

There was a thunderous clash as the two forces met, Chrom's section of the line basically decimating the Plegians before him and cutting far deeper into the enemy than any other section did. The Plegian commanders waved up the flanking units to plug the holes in their lines, and I let out a tense breath.

"Get ready," I warned them. "Weapons-checks, people. It's almost show-time."

"Are you not going to say something?" Maribelle asked from the back of the group.

"What?" I asked over my shoulder.

"Something heroic to inspire us," she explained.

"I'm sure Chrom gave a great speech!" Ricken added.

The kid's hero-worship really bugged me sometimes. I gave Lon'qu a 'help me' look, but the Feroxi swordsman just shrugged. 'Not my problem' his posture seemed to say.

"I'm not really one for speeches," I admitted, wracking my brain for a movie quote I could steal.

When Ricken and Maribelle, and even Olivia and fucking Tharja all turned their disappointed faces at me I gave another sigh and resigned myself to my fate.

Right, well, Age of Ultron don't fail me now, I thought with a sigh.

"Look, just… don't forget we're dealing with their elite here," I said lamely, put on the spot. "They're not going to be as easy as the conscripts we've dealt with so far, so fight smart and watch each-others backs. Doesn't matter what you did, or what you were before. If you go out there, you fight as a Shepherd, and you fight to kill. You get hurt, hurt em back. You get killed, walk it off."

I paused for a moment, hoping that was as epic in real life as it had been in the movie.

"We got this," I added confidently, far more confidently than I really felt.

I was pretty sure I heard Tharja swooning behind me. I snuck a glance at the others, Ricken looking motivated as fuck and Olivia much calmer now. Maribelle just looked like she was going to jump me then and there.

Fucking hell, it was just something I stole from a movie! I should really think up more quotes… I thought to myself with a grin. What's that one from the end of Starcraft 2? Something about leaning on each other, some things worth fighting for? Gonna have to remember it for the Grima fight…

"Well said," Marth said from my side with a nod.

"Did you practice that beforehand or just come up with it on the spot?" Lon'qu muttered, giving me a slight grin.

"I am a literary genius and you can't prove I plagiarized anything," I muttered back to him, earning a snigger in response.

As we joked around the Plegian conscripts engaged from the Ylissean flanks, and even from where we were waiting you could tell they didn't want to be there. This was the whole reason I'd let Emmeryn sacrifice herself; because it destroyed the Plegian morale.

Even if she wasn't technically dead…

Whatever, she was gone for now, and that's what mattered.

"Get ready," I said. "As soon as the last of the conscripts engage we charge. Keep a tight formation, don't let them separate us."

A chorus of affirmatives answered me as we all tensed for action.

I'd performed Shakespeare in front of hundreds of people before. I'd screamed my lungs out on-stage at metal gigs in high-school. Hell, I'd been in more plays than I could count.

But this… this feeling of nerves, it was a whole new level to me.

I felt like puking, curling up and weeping like a little girl. In that order. The only thing that stopped me was the thought that the man out there, Gangrel, stood between me and my goal. What that goal was I hadn't decided yet, but that was beside the point. I could decide if I was going home or staying here for the rest of my life later.

I heard a little gagging sound from next to me and glanced over. Marth was practically green, subtly holding a hand to her mouth.

"First time fighting people, huh?" I asked.

She nodded, clearly shaken up now.

"O-on this scale, yes," she managed.

"Yeah, me too," I sighed, standing from my crouch.

"Shepherds! For Ylisse! No mercy! No retreat! No surrender! With me, charge!"

With that I burst from the trees, already gripping my shiny trench knives in each hand as I ran. The rest of the squad behind me letting out a roar and following. We ran fast and hard, keeping to the formation I'd decided on; me, Marth, Lon'qu and Panne up front, Tharja and Ricken in the middle with Maribelle and Olivia in the rear.

I ran as hard as my stumpy little legs would carry me, snarling like an animal as we closed on the Plegians. The Royal Guard reacted slowly, and you could actually see the surprise on their faces. They really hadn't been expecting a flanking attack when our forces were spread so thin already.

My roar reached its peak as we finally reached the Plegians and I slid beneath the sword of the first surprised soldier, lashing out with my knives in a spinning attack that used my running momentum before moving on to the next. Panne just crashed into them like a bowling ball, trampling the soldiers she didn't tear apart with her teeth or claws. Lon'qu was just as destructive at my side, his precision strikes leaving a fine mist of blood in the air around him like something from a samurai movie. Marth, however, was something else. You could really tell that she was over-levelled, thanks to the time she'd come from.

If I was thinking in game terms that I hadn't had a chance to put the others through any serious grinding, so I was worried about their levels going into the first big boss fight. So far we were doing okay, considering the NPCs Chrom had roped into joining us, but…

But Marth… she was a whirlwind of destruction. Lon'qu and I locked shocked gazes as she passed us, tearing into the Plegians like a battering ram. I rolled my eyes, shrugged and steeled myself, following after her as Tharja and Ricken began their magic assault. Fire rained from the sky around us as lightning bolts jumped from soldier to soldier, dancing along the metallic surfaces of their weapons and armor. I struggled to catch up with Marth, fighting my way to her and dispatching the wounded she left in her wake.

The fighting wounded that were attacking me, I meant, not the ones lying in pools of blood on the ground. If she really wanted me to show compassion so it could bite her in the ass later, I could do that. Hell, considering the 'I told you so' I was getting ready to fire off, I wanted to do it.

However, what I couldn't do was account for the way she was breaking ranks. She was the main tank, and she had just cut and left the DPS and healer behind. That shit didn't fly. Clearly she'd never been in a real raid party before.

Dammit, stop thinking of this like a game! I told myself.

"Marth!" I called.

I blocked a blow from a lance I barely saw coming, thanking Sully for making me train with her so much as I ducked beneath the weapon and drove my trench knife into the soldier's neck.

"Marth!" I screamed again. "Get your ass back in line!"

I stumbled as one of the wounded men on the ground grabbed at my leg, hardly alive but clinging just enough to annoy me. I tsked in annoyance, driving the heel of my boot into his face and crushing his nose to make him release me.

I looked up, Marth still fighting ahead of me. She was slowing, but I couldn't help but notice our lines were way the fuck behind us now.

"Princess!" I tried again. "Fall back to the line, dammit!"

This got her attention, and she finally turned to look at me. Her face was a mixture of savage rage and paralyzing terror, coated with blood-splatter and gore. Clearly she had never fought other people before, if the look on her face was anything to go by.

"Lucina!" I called again, snarling.

She finally blinked as if coming to her senses and nodded, striking a few more times against the Plegians to make some space before backpedaling. I fell in at her shoulder as she reached me, the two of us fighting our way back to the other Shepherds. Of course, the Plegians had mostly plugged the hole she'd made with fresh bodies, so we were surrounded. But I was too high on adrenaline to care.

"Push through, rejoin the others!" I shouted above the sound of battle.

She nodded once, throwing herself against the Plegians again and leaving me to cover her back as the Plegians closed in to cut us off. Again.

With a sigh I spun with my knives extended to keep the soldiers at bay. At least we were almost back to the others and then I could-

"Argh-crap-fucking-whores-on-a-boat-shit!" I roared, searing pain shooting up my leg.

I glanced down at the little prick that had stabbed me in the calf; one of the wounded that Marth had left in her wake. She turned too, her eyes widening as she took in the scene in an instant.

"Fuck! Off!" I bellowed, stabbing down into the man's eye.

He jerked twice before collapsing, leaving me surrounded by his friends. Very angry friends pissed off that I'd just killed him. I realized then that I was surrounded and, despite my orders not to, had become cut off from the others.

"Right you fuckers, who's next!?" I shouted, holding my arms wide. "Everyone line up so I can kick all your asses!"

Only I was bluffing. Grandstanding. I could hardly put any weight on my wounded leg. I was breathing heavy, asthma starting to kick in. The others were still some distance away.

I was fucked.

I was probably going to die.

But, I figured that if I was going to die I wasn't doing it alone.

I'd take as many as I could with me as I tried to look cool before I died.

As a few of the braver soldiers inched towards me with their weapons leveled I snarled wordlessly, knocking the swords and axes down with one sweep and using my good leg to propel me into them. I kicked, thrashed, bit and stabbed as about six of us went down in a pile, my trench knives fulfilling their purpose perfectly as the soldiers' longer weapons became useless in the brawl. They battered at me, smashing my head with gauntleted fists and kicking at my ribs and gut, but I just kept going.

Fuck dying like a hero. I was a cornered animal, and I was going to act like it.

I tore through one's armor with my knives and bit at the face of another long enough to distract him into dying on my knives. Someone kicked me in the side, and I gave a little hop, straddling the fucker and bringing my knives down on his face. The screaming made me sick, but I couldn't stop now. Someone kicked my hand and the knife on it was wrenched out of my grip by the blow; I barely slowed, driving my gauntleted fist into the man beneath me instead.

One of them finally got a good hit in, smashing me in the jaw hard enough to knock me to the side. I collapsed as stars passed before my vision, dazed. My body refused to acknowledge my desperate commands to get up, to keep fighting, to kill something more.

Kill… that's what I wanted to do. Kill more… take more of them with me. Cover myself in their blood so when I finally got to hell I deserved what was waiting for me…

My vision cleared and I roared again, seeing red as I forced myself back onto my knees, sweeping blindly with my knives and forcing the Plegians back a little. In hindsight it probably would have been smart to grab something a little longer from the bodies around me, but I was wounded and mad.

"Come on!" I roared. "Come on! Come on, come on, come on!"

I jerked back to my feet, my wounded left leg hanging limply as I balanced on the right. A quick glance told me that the others were still tied up trying to get back to me, Marth fighting like a monster but still being blocked at every turn. Her eyes were wild again, and I'm pretty sure she was calling my name now. I couldn't hear her, though. All I could hear was the blood roaring in my ears. I grinned, turning back to the soldiers surrounding me much more cautiously now.

Clearly the Plegians had identified me as one of the Ylissean leaders. Which was exactly why I said it was stupid for me and Chrom to lead from the front.

He and I would be having a long talk about that when I got back.

If I got back…

"Well!?" I goaded the hesitant Plegians around me. "I haven't got all day!"

I swayed, my vision fading again as I fought with my wounds to stay upright. It wasn't like in the movies. I couldn't shrug off being stabbed and cut and bludgeoned. Just a few little injuries and I was ready to pass out. I wasn't a hero, I was just a guy. But the soldiers still hesitated, taken aback by my false bravado. Which, as it turns out, was just long enough for Panne to finally crash through and put herself between me and them.

"Not one of you will touch him!" she growled.

Lon'qu moved in next, going around my side while Marth moved around the other. Each of them grabbed one of my arms while Panne distracted the soldiers and started dragging me back.

"We've got him! Do it now!" Lon'qu shouted.

Tharja and Ricken stepped forward again, blasts of fire driving the Plegians back as the Shepherds retreated.

"S-stop!" I coughed.

Lon'qu and Marth both looked down at me in shock, shaking their heads and continuing to drag me. Dammit, I wasn't crazy and I was still in charge!

"Dammit, stop!" I said louder. "Don't give up this momentum! B-back into them!"

"Shut up already," Marth growled. "We're not retreating!"

"Once Maribelle gets you back on your feet then we'll listen to that order," Lon'qu added.

I sighed and closed my eyes, the light of the magical fire too bright for my tired eyes.

It was warm, though. Pleasantly so.

On some level I knew it was bad, but I felt myself nodding off a little, my head lolling forward so that my beard rested on my chest…

I just needed a few minutes. A few minutes and I'd be back on my feet…

I felt hands dragging at me now, cold and clammy as they pulled me down. I turned my head, laughing a little as I realized the men I'd just killed were trying to take me with them.

Or I was hallucinating from blood-loss and fumes from the smoke.

Either way, as I passed out all I could think was I'd kept my promise; I wasn't going to hell alone.


A harsh, stinging sensation on my already bruised face brought me back in an instant, Maribelle kneeling over me with tears in her eyes as I coughed the blood out of my throat.

"Wake up, Naga damn you!" she wailed, balling the front of my shirt up and shaking me. "Don't you dare die on me!"

"Hit me again and I'll do it just to spite you," I moaned, forcing myself up onto one elbow.

I leaned over, spitting up blood and wondering how exactly I had received internal injuries. I didn't think I'd been hit that bad; just blood loss from my leg.

Right?

"Ben!" the healer said in shock. "You're okay! You-waugh!"

I blinked as Maribelle's concerned face was replaced by Tharja's ample chest as she shoved the blonde woman aside and pulled me into a tight hug.

"Thank the gods!" she whispered into the top of my head.

"Alright!" I groaned. "Alright! We're still on a battlefield here!"

"Actually, the fighting's almost done," Ricken said helpfully from behind the dark mage.

"What?" I asked, pushing Tharja off of me.

She gave me a hurt little pout, which under normal circumstances might have given me a little twinge in my chest, but I ignored it. I glanced up, looking across the battlefield. The small, dry field we'd been fighting in was littered with black-armored corpses, but in the distance I could still make out the forms of soldiers fighting. It looked like Plegians that Ylissean knights had run to ground and were intent on performing a heroic last stand.

"So… we won?" I asked hesitantly. "How long was I out? I didn't even get to see Gangrel!"

Tharja gave a little squeak, shoved aside by Maribelle this time as the healer took up my vision again.

"You were wounded terribly, dearest," she said, pulling me into an embrace much the same way Tharja had and stroking my head. "We almost lost you."

"Alright, enough hugging, dammit!" I sighed, pushing her off. "Ricken, help me up!"

"R-right! Yes, master!" the young mage squeaked, taking my extended hand and helping me to my feet.

"Where are the others?" I asked, clenching my teeth against the pain in my leg.

I threw one arm around Ricken's shoulders to support myself and glanced around, seeing a pathetic and sniffling Olivia not far away as she clutched her sword close to her chest. There were figures off in the distance, too, but my vision was still kinda blurry from pain and I couldn't make them out.

"Marth went nuts when you passed out," Ricken said from beneath my arm. "She led Lon'qu and Panne against the Plegians. They cut all the way to Gangrel and she…"

"Cut the sniveling coward in half," Tharja spat with relish, smiling the sexiest yandere smile I'd ever seen.

Oh god do I have issues if that turns me on, I thought with a weak chuckle.

"But she kept going," Ricken went on. "Last I saw of the three of them they were chasing down the Plegian soldiers that were trying to retreat with the knights."

"Well, I did say no mercy," I sighed. "Maribelle, can you do anything about my leg? Ricken's too short to be a crutch."

The healer nodded, taking a deep breath to collect herself before standing.

"Now that you are awake and your life is no longer in danger I can focus my magic," she nodded. "It will only take a moment."

I looked down as she knelt by my wounded leg, jumping a little when I saw the state of my clothes. Or rather what was left of them. My shirt and vest were in tatters, little more than rags hanging off of my shoulders. My jeans had a bunch of new holes in them, which actually made me quite sad. I was coated in blood and dirt, too, and looked like I'd been rolling around the battlefield rather than fighting.

Actually, come to think about it, I kinda had been…

A cool, numbing sensation spread through my leg and my hip, followed by the familiar and peculiar sensation of my injury closing as the healing magic took effect.

"You had us all so worried," Maribelle muttered while she worked. "We… thought we had lost you…"

Ricken nodded his agreement beneath my meaty arm, doing his best to look tough despite the tear-streaks in the soot and dirt on his face. I sighed, standing on my own again and ruffling the young mage's hair.

"I'm sorry," I said.

Maribelle sniffled and nodded, still focusing on my leg. Behind her Tharja watched me with moist eyes, and I was pretty sure I heard Olivia let out a little sob.

I didn't even think that she liked me that much; I'm pretty sure she was just caught up in the mood.


That evening I limped through the small tent city that had formed to one side of the battlefield, looking for the other members of my squad. The rest of the Shepherds were fine and all alive, being treated by Lissa, Libra and Maribelle in the medic tent or bumming around the camp waiting for someone to start dinner.

I hadn't seen Chrom yet, but according to Frederick the Prince was busy with the leaders of the army units we'd had with us, organizing their return to Ylisse. Which, the Knight had added, was supposed to be my job, but Chrom had been good enough to do it for me while I recovered.

I'd ordered Ricken, Olivia and Tharja to get some rest; Tharja had been a little less than willing, but with the promise of me coming back to wake her up before dinner she'd relented. Sulkily, but still. I'd wanted to let Maribelle rest, but we only had three healers, so…

So that meant that Lon'qu, Panne and Marth were all still unaccounted for.

I found Panne easily enough. I simply asked Sully in passing if she'd seen the Taguel, and had been directed to the large tent at the back of the camp. I found the tent easily enough, too; a long, rectangular tent that had been set up, easily the size of the mess tent but with no windows. A few small slits along the top to let air in were all the tent had.

"Panne!" I called, pushing the canvas aside and stepping in. "You in here!?"

I glanced around the surprisingly well-lit tent, feeling my heart stop and my blood run cold.

I should have asked Sully what tent this was, I thought, eyes widening in momentary panic.

Large tubs of water dotted the inside of the tent, as well as benches of towels and soaps. Steam clung to my clothes as I slowly turned. The sole occupant of the bathing tent, a very naked Panne, momentarily ignored me as she poured a smaller bucket of water over her face and chest, washing the day's blood away.

She glanced up when she finished, a small smile rising to her face.

I will admit, I was still not entirely used to her smile.

"Ah. Manspawn. You are awake. Good," she said, placing the bucket down and turning towards me.

Fortunately, I wasn't an anime protagonist nor a gawky teenager anymore. I was a grown-ass man. So, stealing a couple of glances at Panne's chest and perfectly toned, if a little furrier than normal, body for good measure I played it cool. If she wasn't going to make a big deal out of this, neither was I.

What? I'm a pervert, I'm not going to start lying about it at this stage of the game.

"Yup," I said, smiling back. "Just wanted to make sure you were okay. You weren't hurt today, were you?"

Panne shook her head, her long wet ears flapping back and forth with the motion. She stopped right in front of me, and I had to do my best to ignore the fact she wasn't wearing clothes. It was like she didn't even notice.

"I am unharmed," she said simply.

"Good," I nodded. "Er… carry on, then."

She nodded, smiling again before turning and going back to the tub she'd been using.

I couldn't help but notice the fluffy rabbit tail just above her butt. It was like something from a Bugs Bunny cartoon, and I couldn't take my eyes off it and the perfect, literally perfect, ass just below it.

Dammit, I'm not a furry! I reminded myself, spinning and ducking out of the bathing tent before anyone else spotted me in there.

Panne was fine in more ways than one, that's what mattered.

I stopped a few paces away from the tent, doing my best to think of where Lon'qu would be. I wracked my brain, shrugging and heading for the storage tent we kept the sword-maintenance stuff in as I replayed the scene of Panne walking away from me in my head. In slow motion. With a very, very bass-heavy soundtrack.

True to form, my guess had been spot on and Lon'qu sat in the middle of the storage tent, his sword across his lap while he meticulously cleaned it.

"Still alive?" I asked lazily as I limped into the tent.

The Feroxi swordsman glanced up from his work and grinned.

"Are you?" he asked.

"Despite my best efforts to the contrary," I sighed melodramatically. "I heard you and Marth went a little nuts after I went down."

Lon'qu shrugged, going back to his cleaning.

"She did," he stated. "I just followed her."

I nodded, smiling a little.

"Just don't over-do it, okay?" I said. "I'm sure I'll need you to drag my carcass off the field again one day."

I turned to leave at that, holding up the canvas flap to get out of the tent.

"I'm glad you're not dead," Lon'qu said before I could leave.

"Yeah, me too," I said, stepping back into the camp.

"Oh, and I noticed you can't fight worth a damn!" he called after me. "Chrom asked me to help you with that!"

"Joy," I laughed, shaking my head.

Maybe now I'd actually learn how to use a fucking sword.


When I finally found Marth the sun had set and I'd been limping around in the moonlight for about half an hour. Fortunately the moon was close to being full, otherwise I'm sure I would have tripped shuffling around the battlefield.

I found her standing there, leaning on her sword and surrounded by the bodies we'd left in the field to rot.

"This is where you were hiding," I said when I was close enough. "You're not a nice lady, making the wounded guy limp around looking for you…"

"Please," she said, her voice hoarse. "Not… not at this time."

I stopped, glancing at her a little closer.

"You okay?" I asked.

"I will be fine," she said, her voice carefully even and still not facing me. "I simply wish to be alone."

I shuffled a little closer, stepping over the corpses in my path. This… wasn't healthy. How the hell was she supposed to come to terms with what we'd done that day surrounded by corpses? I couldn't let her break here; I needed her in the next few years.

This was another reason I didn't want to fuck with the timeline. Clearly Lucina wasn't as emotionally mature at this point as she was two years from now. She had obviously needed those two years to grow and harden herself, and I cursed myself for not realizing that sooner. Now she was potentially damaged, way too early in the game. But was she damaged beyond fixing?

I had to do something. I had no idea what, but I couldn't run the risk of letting this fester.

"Do you know what PTSD is?" I asked her softly.

Marth, or rather Lucina, shook her head slightly, angling it to remain facing away from me.

"It stands for 'post-traumatic stress disorder'," I explained. "Shell Shock, Soldier's Heart, there's a lot of names for it. My brother told me a lot about it. Where I come from, it's a serious problem among soldiers. Here, too. I've already had to deal with it once since getting here. It happens when you experience a serious trauma. Something like your first big battle against living enemies, for example."

Lucina nodded silently, before sucking in a ragged breath.

"I've seen men die before," she said quietly. "I… I have even taken life before. But… today… so many died… and I killed them…"

She started to tremble, holding her hands up in front of her face. Her sword fell to the ground, clattering on the armor of one of the bodies at her feet.

"Don't try to keep it in," I warned her. "You'll just make it worse. If you try to keep it inside it'll fuck you up for the rest of your life."

"You must think me so foolish," she whispered, her voice ragged. "I am the Exalt that led the last of mankind, and… I balk at a battle like this…"

I shrugged, limping away a few steps.

"Hell, I'm going to have nightmares about this shit," I admitted. "Probably for the rest of my life. But I was expecting that when I signed on. Fucking hell, I almost died today. Nobody goes through that unscathed."

Lucina finally turned to face me at that, silent tears still running down her face.

"I'm… s-so sorry," she said. "If… if I hadn't hesitated to take life… I… I saw what happened. O-one of the… the men I let live… he… it was because of me you were hurt! You… you were right…"

"Why Princess, if I didn't know better I'd almost think you cared," I said gently.

"Do not joke!" she shouted, finally snapping and beginning to sob. "Not now! Not about this!"

Her broken sobs echoed around us, and I let out a sigh. This didn't feel like a victory; not on the battlefield, and not in the silly little fight Lucina and I were having.

"It's a coping mechanism," I shrugged, limping back over to her. "Trust me, I'm not making fun of you."

"J-just… leave me alone," Lucina sobbed.

I only hesitated for a moment before limping forward again.

"I can't do that, Princess," I said, stopping just in front of her. "You're too important to let implode like that."

"How… how can you be so… so… cold?" she asked, still sobbing. "So glib about this?"

"I've dealt with my demons before," I said offhandedly. "This is just a new demon to add to the list. Once you beat em once, it gets easier."

I sighed, looking down at the woman before me.

"You weren't ready for this," I told her. "It's my fault for forcing this on you, so I'll take responsibility."

Lucina froze and I cursed, realizing what I'd just said.

"I don't mean it like that," I groaned, running a hand down my face. "I just meant I'd help you heal."

"I do not need your help!" Lucina said hotly, glaring up at me. "This… this is my burden! I came back to save these people, not to kill them! Instead… i-instead… I butchered them…"

"Everyone needs help from time to time, Princess," I said, smiling sadly.

"Why are you being so kind to me!?" she practically shouted. "Why!? You have been nothing but a rude and arrogant jerk since I joined you, and now… now…"

"It's no fun kicking you when you're down," I admitted with a grin. "Don't worry. When you're feeling better, then I'll start fucking with you again. For what it's worth, I'm not quite willing to accept your defeat yet."

Lucina glanced up at me, sniffling again as she wiped at her face with the backs of her hands.

Christ she looked so young… A kid playing at being a soldier.

"It was a battle," I explained. "A war. Human nature at its absolute worst. That's not what I meant when we talked in the north, so I don't think it counts. So buck up. You could still beat me yet."

"You are just trying to cheer me up now," she sniffed.

"Is it working?" I asked with a grin.

"Maybe," Lucina said with a half-laugh, half-sob.

"Good," I grinned. "I need my verbal sparring partner back. It's going to be a long-ass two years as it is."

Lucina blinked, calming a little as curiosity distracted her.

"What's in two years?" she asked.

I could have lied here. I could have told her something, anything else, but that wouldn't have been fair. I needed to warn her.

"The next war," I said, my good mood evaporating with a sigh. "And it kind of makes this one look like a freaking border skirmish. On the plus side, though, we're going to pick up all your friends first."


AN: I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, but I needed to get the serious stuff out of the way so we can move onto more comedy during the time-skip. And really, that's what this story is all about. The comedy.