A/N: I am so sorry for the wait. My computer almost died and I couldn't access any of my files at the time; it's still struggling, but I managed to back up my files at least. I swear, one chapter left- I promise.

The silence was antagonizing, but what was probably worse was the paralyzing feeling that came with the shock. And he knew he wasn't the only one. He could hear a few low curses behind him and immediately felt the hand in his tighten.

"Are… are they?" Elincia started, not entirely sure what she was seeing. This was field that had erupted into shouts and sheer fighting once they stepped through those gates; the one she was tempted to run back into once she noticed the sudden outbreak. This was where everyone was, this was where she left them thinking that she could finally do the fighting for them instead… This was where they were supposed to be safe. But they weren't. And maybe she was just fooling herself into thinking that anywhere would be safe for them at all.

All she could think about was Lucia and Geoffrey and Bastian… they were the only ones she had. She had had enough scares during this war, she couldn't handle anymore. Lucia and Geoffrey had been working themselves overtime enough with the fighting and Bastian had stressed himself over keeping his own plans pulled together.

Uncle Renning… She had just gotten him back, she couldn't lose him again. Not when she finally had some closure to hold on to.

And the rest of the Royal Knights. Kieran, Marcia, Makalov, Astrid, Calill and Danved… they had all put their life on the line again and again without hesitation.

No, this couldn't be true; they all couldn't have been taken out- not like this!

"I highly doubt it."

The words seemed odd amidst the silent chaos that was going on around them and she watched as Lady Tanith steadily pushed her way to the front of the group before she started on across the bridge. Her gait never once slowing down or even showing a step of concern or hesitation. "The Goddess could barely render me a concussion; I highly doubt her dead henchmen were able to take down Commander Sigrun."

Even amidst fear and panic, the brunette could always remain level-headed.

She hesitated before she slowly moved after her- figuring if anything… they wouldn't know until they looked and… confirmed it.

Just like before… it felt like he was too hesitative to move- almost afraid of what he might find out there; of what he might have to see. He glanced over to Titania standing next to him, her face showing only a fraction of what he was feeling; she seemed worried and possibly scared, but wouldn't entirely allow for her emotions to show it. "Do you think…" Ike started, not entirely sure where he was going with the words.

"No…" she replied softly, although seeming a bit unsure herself. "Before we left, I told Oscar to keep an eye on everyone; he wouldn't have allowed for anything to happen to anyone. This may simply be an illusion or whatever the word might be."

Right… right. Perhaps they had acted too quickly… the panic had taken over immediately and wouldn't let in any reasonable thoughts.

"I have to find Mist." he spoke before he pushed himself forward and moved across the bridge just as the rest of the group began to force themselves onward as well. He was still hoping for the best in this situation- convinced that with the number of people they came in with, it was near impossible for all of them to have fallen.

But just the same since they brought in so many soldiers, he wasn't even sure where to start to look for any of the Mercenaries or if he'd even be able to find all of them in the chaos. But he wasn't going to give up. They were his family… he wouldn't leave them alone in this.

And yet, he felt a sense of guilt for simply passing a few motionless people by without so much as stopping to see if they were breathing still. Most of them were bloodied with evident injuries, but nothing serious- just the usual scraps and scuffs. But when the guilt seemed to revive the throbbing in his chest, he stopped himself at the first familiar face he could find. And, with a still questioning sense of hope, he knelt down and gently nudged the unconscious swordsman. A few seconds passed on and he dreaded the worst until a quiet groan escaped the man.

"Ah… my head." Stefan hissed briefly as his unsteady hands started towards his head before they quickly moved to grasp at his bloodied side instead. "Best yet, my ribs…"

The dropping realization at the man's slow revival seemed to break every bit of tension there had been in the air. He wasn't sure how he wanted to react, but… he carefully moved to rest a careful hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?" Ike questioned, watching now as the green-haired man eventually rolled over onto his back, revealing a few more bloodied wounds- all while still cradling his side. But he nodded in a given response. "Well… Sir Stefan, you'll be the first to know that it's all over finally. Tellius is at peace once more."

"Well, Goddess be praised- actually I suppose we'll have to retire that saying now." he laughed before he finally managed to crack his eyes open. "Good Heavens, I don't have much to complain about when looking at you."

He chuckled briefly at the words, realizing he probably still looked like death itself, before he pushed himself to his feet; offering the man a helping hand. "It's nothing new and all well earned." with a careful lift, he pulled him to his feet and momentarily stressed at both of their injuries. "What happened out here?"

"Can't say that I remember much." Stefan replied. "I… remember fighting and then the soldiers disappeared and… everything went dark. I suppose we all passed out. At least, I would hope so."

"So then… no one's dead?" he questioned.

"Ha, heavens no… I mean, we were ambushed and outnumbered, but they were no match for us. The only struggles we had were with exhaustion seeing as those gold men resurrected again and again while we could barely keep our breath, but… nothing that's been out of our control." Stefan assured; pausing briefly, as though allowing for his own words to sink in for himself before he seemed to snap back to the environment around him; giving a quick, brisk look over. "Ah, where has my sword companion gone? Zihark? He couldn't possibly have gotten far."

Ike stepped back and watched as the green-haired man moved on with his new quest, before he continued on with his own. With the assurance that their first impressions had been wrong… he felt more at ease now. As far as Sir Stefan knew, no one had been seriously injured; if anything it seemed like everyone mostly had minor injuries and nothing more. He felt better moving past a few more unconscious forms, but he noticed that a few of them were finally stirring on their own and were slowly coming to; a few groaned and some others cursed but… they seemed relieved for the most part. And he couldn't blame them. He helped a few of people to their feet and passed on the good new, but didn't stick around to celebrate for the time being.

Despite the multitude of soldiers though, he was surprised it didn't take him all that long to find someone who was finally familiar- even if it was Boyd.

He knelt down besides the somewhat waking man, wincing briefly at the mess of blood that was caked on the side of his head. It looked like he had taken quite a hit but… he couldn't see the wound exactly- it couldn't have been that bad. "You okay there, monkey?"

The man's eyes briefly cracked open at the question and when he seemed to recognize him, he flipped him off.

"Hey now, that's not very nice to do to someone who just defeated the Goddess."

"Am I supposed to care?" Boyd remarked as one hand moved to press heavily to the side of his bloodied head; eventually feeling down to where it had caked all over his face. He grimaced slightly at the realization of the mess but he seemed to shrug it off. "You weren't down here getting the snot kicked out of you every time you turned around."

He would've liked to argue that, but… now didn't seem like the time nor place. "Uh well… not quite like that." Ike started with a brief chuckle as he brushed aside his loose bangs. He waited until the man seemed more in one piece before he continued speaking. "Do you know if everyone is alright? Where are the others?"

"How am I supposed to know? How long have I been out?" Boyd started, moving to rub at the back of his neck for a moment after giving up on his head. He took in a deep breath before he slowly let it out in an exaggerated manner. "Yeah, the last time I checked, we were all still alive. I don't know if we're all still kicking but- oh shit."

"What is it?" Ike quickly pressed.

The middle brother gave a brief chuckle before he spoke. "I just remembered that… Oscar fucked up his leg- again."

He paused slightly at the answer, watching as the darker-haired man only continued laughing at the answer he had previously given. His older brother had already cracked his right leg twice before in unrelated activities… he didn't know how else he could've broken it. "How bad?"

"Oh Goddess, you should see it. Is he around here somewhere?" Boyd continued, briefly glancing around the waking field before he slowly convinced himself to his feet. "There was so much blood, I think he got thrown from his horse or something; I didn't see the whole ordeal, but someone was yelling about it and I gotta tell you, it's not an easy sight. Mist tried to heal it, but-"

There it was.

"Mist, where is she?" he interrupted.

Boyd paused slightly at the question as though considering it himself. "Uh… somewhere over there maybe?" he replied, gesturing blindly to his right. "She was with Mia last I saw- or was it Nephenee?"

He didn't bother to hear the rest of the man's story and took off into the direction- hoping Boyd was at least right about the direction. He would take time later to sit down and talk to everyone to make sure they were okay, but… right now, he needed to find Mist. She was his priority now. He… he needed to tell her it was over- that it was all over.

Passing by a few people, he kept searching through the crowd of other familiar faces who were slowly coming to, until he finally saw her. She was just barely getting to her feet, looking unsteady with her balance wavering some, but she looked okay; she didn't seem injured thankfully. Her hair was a mess and she looked disoriented for a moment before she turned to speak with someone else- no doubtingly to ask about what had happened or what was going on now.

But then her balance seemed to become unreliable once more and she stumbled slightly to catch herself and nearly fell had he not rushed over to catch her. He quickly pulled her into his arms and held her tightly against his chest, feeling all of that sheer panic and fear from before quickly ease away.

"Ah, you're crushing me!" Mist whined, swinging her legs when he briefly lifted her off the ground.

He didn't even care if he was holding her too tightly as long as he just knew she was okay… as long as he could just hold her right now. "You want to talk about being crushed, I could tell you a few things." Ike replied, feeling her struggle now in his hold before he finally released her.

She spun around and started to yell at him, before she finally recognized who he was.

He chuckled as her jaw dropped slightly and her expression was caught in brief shock; he swore she was about to fall again before she practically tackled into him. Despite her smaller frame, he still felt his ribs shift slightly under her force before he moved to catch her once more. Her hands tangled themselves in the mess of his tunic and between the slight suffocation of her head pressed into his shoulder, she had broken out into sobbing.

"Hey, hey, whoa, no crying." he started as he brushed aside her tangled, blonde locks. "I told you I would come back victoriously."

"I know… I just… anything could've happened. " she replied, eventually pulling herself away long enough to run the back of her hand across her eyes. "We just kept fighting and fighting… we didn't think it would ever end and then everything went black- I thought it was over."

Just like with Elincia before, even if all of these emotions were caused by relief, it still hurt to see. He couldn't imagine how difficult it was to be outside of the tower; he couldn't imagine the fear everyone went through. Just as Stefan had said, the Disciplines kept coming again and again without fail while they simply had to fight through wave after wave without rest. They didn't know if it was ever going to end. And they had to put all their trust into those who went into the tower and while he was sure they believed in those who had been sent in… that didn't mean they didn't have their doubts as well.

His hands moved to squeeze her shoulders gently. "Well it is." Ike spoke. "It's over. Ashera's gone and… everything can be normal again."

She paused slightly in trying to rub away the last of her tears and looked up to him. "You really did it then?"

"You can't tell?" he asked alongside a brief chuckle as he touched at the wounded portion of his head. "She really laid the beat down on me at that last moment. But that'll be a story to tell for later though… we should see who we can find in this mess."

She smiled and started to follow after him before something else seemed to come to mind. She stopped and immediately pulled on his arm- a motion he swore almost pulled him off his feet. "That means Rhys is back, right? We have to get him to Oscar- his leg is really bad."

Before he could so much as question her, she took off running across the field- leaving him behind her and in no real condition to run after her. Despite everything they had just gone through, it seemed like running the Mercenaries was still the most hectic of all of his duties. There were no breaks when it came to being a Mercenary.

Well… he'd make it after her eventually.

Maybe then he'd figure out what the hell was going on.


She remembered running like hell across the field after Lady Tanith had gone. Maybe she just wasn't as patient or strong-minded as the others were… but she needed to make sure they were just unconscious and not dead. She needed to find them first as well. They had just stepped out from the Guidance Tower, they had just finished defeating the Goddess, she couldn't stand any more stress or worry. She was going to be the youngest Queen with gray hairs.

Stepping through the crowded field, she winced at a few of the passing injuries but was comforted by the fact that the people were in the process of waking up- so their injuries weren't fatal. And more importantly, they weren't dead… like they had all naturally assumed. Thankfully. She would've cried in relief if she could, but she was emotionally drained from everything before; she could barely convince herself to do much else aside from run. Even then, her previous injuries, even though healed, were starting to slow her down now; their shock finally settling in.

But she pushed through the stiffness in her limbs and the faint ache in her chest to keep moving.

And it felt like she had traveled around the entire field before she finally found someone.

"Lucia!" Elincia called, easily catching sight of the unmistakable blue hair against the green grass. She stumbled slightly on her way over to her before she quickly fell down next to the unconscious woman; hands grasping at her bruised jaw. Her white uniform was cut from careful slashes and stained with blood, but… nothing seemed serious. She was still breathing and a slight twitch in her fingertips meant she was slowly coming to- just like the rest of the field. At this point though, the virtue of waiting meant nothing to her and she lightly shook the woman to garner a better response.

"Ah, ah… please don't move me." the blue haired woman gasped slightly as her hands slowly moved to cradle her midsection.

She felt a ting of regret for her decision at the woman's pained reaction, watching as her eyes tightened together while her lips pressed into a tight grimace. "Are you alright?" Elincia questioned as fingers moved to brush aside her stuck blue, bangs. "What happened?"

Lucia groaned briefly before she slowly rolled over onto one side, carefully straightening out her body while trying to take off some of the pressure from her ribcage. "I got blindsided by a fucking paladin… ugh… it knocked me out, I don't know what happened after that. What's going on now?"

Okay well… she was still alive and okay. Still, it was rare for a paladin knight to just rush across the field and use his horse as a weapon; she had witnessed paladins running into one another in an attempt to knock the other down, but never against a ground unit- then again, these weren't normal soldiers. It had her worried, even if Lucia appeared to be functioning well enough with her given injuries. "I… well… it's over." Elincia started as she set her hands almost awkwardly against her knees; it felt so surreal to say those words, she wasn't even sure if it was… proper to celebrate them anymore. "We defeated the Goddess and… I guess everyone seems okay."

It took a moment for the stiff pain to settle, and when it did, Lucia pushed herself up- at the soft crackling of her ribs- and threw her arms around the Crimean Queen; eventually pulling her down to the ground in a tight embrace. "Thank Goddess- although I guess we might have to retire that now… Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

She had split both hands open from her reigns and her knees too from hitting the tiles. The Goddess had managed to do some serious damage- although never quite as bad as it felt. Her bones felt stiff from the healing methods and her overall mental health felt like it had deteriorated and regenerated again and again throughout the entire Tower.

"No, a little sore but… nothing like you." Elincia laughed quietly. "I'm just glad it's all over… now we can finally go back home."

"At least everything else will be easy compared to this." Lucia chuckled as she moved to brace her hands against her head before she quickly pulled them away with a short curse. "Oh Goddess… where did Geoffrey get to? I think he and Renning got into a bad spot…"

Uncle Renning.

She quickly pushed herself back up at the words, feeling a sense of worry course through her once more. She knew that at least they were okay, but… that didn't necessarily mean anything else couldn't have happened. Just because someone lived through this, that didn't mean they were okay in the sense of the word. "We have to go find them and make sure they're fine."

"Don't worry, I'm sure they would've done more damage to each other than anyone else could." Lucia assured before she reached a hand up towards her. "Mind giving me a hand?"

With a careful pull, she helped the woman to her feet and quickly offered a shoulder to her when she almost fell again. Lucia laughed off her lack of proper balance and took a few seconds to find her center of gravity before she could finally walk without the possibility of falling again. She moved at a slightly slower pace, but they kept together as they moved across the field.

It took her a shorter amount of time to find the reviving pair than it did to find Lucia- which she was grateful for. She was glad to see the two men were already getting to their feet, although slightly unsteady before they caught themselves. From a distance, they looked okay, a bit more battered and bruised but overall in good health. Their mounts weren't anywhere, but she'd guess the aftermath didn't affect animals and the two horses might've taken off in panic.

"Are you two alright?" Elincia asked as she quickly stepped forward towards the two.

"It's nothing to worry about." Renning started to assure, even as one hand briefly rubbed at the lower portion of his back. Blood had caked down part of his face, but he didn't seem to care for the injury that caused it. "You might want to worry more for your General over there."

"With all due respect, Duke Renning… you ran into me." Geoffrey retorted as he kept one hand pressed tightly to the left side of his face. Blood was visible when he slightly pulled away; fingers gingerly touching at the injury underneath.

"I have never ran into comrades before on the field in all my years of experience- you however-"

"Perhaps you should get your eyes checked, old man."

The two couldn't have been reunited for more than a few weeks at most and she was surprised at their immense sense of competitiveness towards one another. She tried not to question it for now and quickly stepped between them to prevent the conversation from going further- which would be the best for the both of them. She moved to rest her hands on Renning's arms and gently squeezed them. "I'm just glad you're okay… I was so worried something happened to you while we were in the Tower. All I could think about was how you just found me and… and I was afraid I was going to lose you all over again."

His heavy hands moved to rest on her slender shoulders before he carefully pulled her against him, practically hiding her with his larger frame. "It's quite alright, Elincia… it would've taken more than these dead husks to take me out again. I'm just glad you came out of that Tower alive and well; I was afraid I would've lost you just the same."

"What on Tellius happened to your face?"

The question broke the already short moment and she glanced up as Lucia moved towards her brother, already trying to move his hand away from the bloodied facial injury. He was able to hold her off for some time, but with a defeated sigh finally let her have her way.

"Lucky hit, I guess." Geoffrey answered as he eventually submitted to the woman's prying; revealing where the previous scar tissue had been ripped a good inch or two from at the corner of his lip. The former Glasgow scar itself was partly revived and bloodied all over again. It stung like hell, but wasn't nearly as painful as it had been the first time around. He heard Lucia click her tongue in agitation but she said little else. "I saw you take that hit, are you okay?"

"I'll live." she assured as she gently tried to tend to the bloodied injury before simply giving up. "He hit hard and I blacked out afterwards, so the pain has had time to kind of settle and it's not as bad as it could be- thankfully. I feel like shit enough as it is."

"I know that feeling." he humored lightly before he gave the waking field around them a brief look over. "I'll let those two have their time. I need to look for the rest of the Knights before they start getting panicked."

"You might want to look for Kieran first then." Lucia replied as she lightly patted him on the arm. "I'll bear the burden of searching for Bastian."

"I'm sure he'll find you first."

She watched as the two eventually walked away, both of them determined to find some of the others- just as she had been determined to find them. They would have time to rejoice at their reunion later… for now, she just wanted to rest and let the moment pass her by. There was so much she would need to do once things had settled down and it could all go back to being normal again. And not just country wise, not just with handling diplomatic issues, but… things more along the lines of domestic work. She needed to work with Uncle Renning to catch him up on current events, give him time to settle in and let him work at his own pace; it wasn't going to be easy for him to readjust, he had been gone for three years… a lot had happened since then. Not to mention more reconstruction was needed, as well as some minor touches in terms of order. She was already getting a headache from it again- or maybe it was the aftereffects of the Goddess' attack still lingering about.

"Quite a strange pair those two are, even after all these years." Renning remarked.

She chuckled lightly at his words. "Yes well… if you're coming back to Crimea with me, then you're going to have to get used to them."

"We'll see about that."

She would also eventually have to introduce Ike to him as well as… someone other than a simple Mercenary-turned Hero- maybe as someone more along the lines of a husband. But that could wait until a more appropriate time.

It felt as though it took hours to get everyone back on their feet with their heads back together; some of them seemed disoriented on what happened and questioned if the war was still ongoing, while others simply waved the matter off as though it no longer mattered. Overall, not all that many people were seriously hurt and most seemed to bear a few minor gashes and cuts that they assured meant nothing. She actually felt a little bad for Rhys; he had healed everyone throughout the Tower battles only to come back out here and have to heal some more. She was pretty certain she overheard Titania telling him not to overexert himself, but… he may or may not have passed out a few minutes later.

There were quiet celebrations as everyone seemed too exhausted to do anything extravagant- which most people seemed to agree with. They shared a few cheers, hugged one another and praised each other's strengths- there were tears though and a lot of open displays of affection towards one another. Most of it would seem to embarrass those in the embrace, but like most, they didn't seem to care for it for the moment. They were alive and lucky to be as such.

After making sure her Royal Knights were taken care of, she wandered about the open field once more- quietly laughing at the people who remained settled in the grass as they had been before; if anything, the field didn't look all that different from when they stepped out before, only they knew everyone was okay this time around. She stopped to speak with a few of the others, revealing that Lady Tanith had been correct in knowing Commander Sigrun's well being; that all of the Heron siblings were well and reunited once more; and that Stefan and Zihark were busy sharing a brief drink from a flask. But… there was one person she was still looking for- one that was proving to be more difficult to find than she thought it would be. For a man who just defeated the Goddess, he could still disappear into a crowd.

Not that well though.

"Feeling any better?" Elincia questioned as she looked down at the resting figure. He was resting just as the others were and seemingly had to force his arm away from his face in order to look up to her. While the healing before seemed to be completing its course, he still had some dark bruises covering good portions of his face. "You look… a little better."

"You don't have to lie to me." he assured with a brief chuckle before he held a hand up to her. When she took it, he simply pulled her down into the grass next to him. "Victory comes at a price."

She landed rather roughly in the grass but managed to do so with some bit of grace so she didn't look all that horrid. Shaking her head at his antics, she watched as he stretched briefly before he loosely crossed his arms over his chest. "Indeed it does. But at least with this victory, nothing was lost."

"How are the Royal Knights doing?"

"They're good, nothing serious." she answered as she eventually moved to rest on her back, no longer caring if anything got in her hair at this point. "At most, Marcia fractured her shoulder but it wasn't serious; Laura healed it up really quick and said it wouldn't be much trouble. One of Geoffrey's scars ripped open, but it's been healed since; Lucia hasn't stopped laughing at it." she chuckled herself at the remembrance of their brief argument over the matter. "What about the Mercenaries?"

He let out a brief sigh in answer. "Uh… good, given the situation and what could've been. Although Oscar apparently broke his leg when he got thrown from his horse, which had gotten frightened by a Fire Sage. It's uh, it's not pretty."

"How bad was it?"

"The bone snapped in half and a piece of it pierced through the skin." he answered as briefly as he could. "Rhys had to reset it before he could even heal it, but he's resting for now; nothing seems wrong with it, so we're all hoping for the best."

She grimaced slightly at the description before she reached over and gently took one of his hands into hers; feeling the subtle warmth in his touch once more. "I just hope everyone pulls through this… We've got a lot of work ahead of us now and there's a dozen different places to start."

"Do you ever think of anything besides work?" Ike asked.

She glanced over to him for a moment before she lightly pushed herself up onto her forearms. "You have the audacity to ask me that?" she teased. "Do you still remember who I am or did the Goddess hit you a little harder than expected?"

"No need to get rude." he chuckled as he slowly moved to face her now, fingers moving to brush through her loosen strands. "Don't let the future weigh you down. Don't think about... anything asides from what's here right now, what's right in front of you. That's what's important."