A/N: Sorry to keep you waiting, but here it is- the conclusion to the Tears of the Soul Trilogy! I would have done this sooner, but school (and life in general) are kicking my butt. Please be sure to leave a review with your thoughts!

Tears of the Soul, Part the Third

It was Kirito the Black Swordsman, Chrom the Crown Prince of Ylisse, and his daughter Lucina, Future Past Exalt of the Halidom that stood before Yen'fay, sub-commander of Emperor Walhart's forces. In his hand was a golden sword that somewhat reminded Kirito of the weapon Guilty Thorn, a spear that had caused him quite the headache back in Aincrad. But the wielder reminded him more of Heathcliff just before he would go into battle- calm, unflustered, and prepared for anything that the world might throw at him.

"You've quite the nerve," Chrom said as a lava bubble burst not ten feet away from him. "Your sister fights with honor, and yet you have the audacity to even pick up a blade after all that you have done? Explain yourself!"

"The mere fact that you possess royal blood does not entitle you to answers from me, Ylissean," Yen'fay said quietly. "We both know that there is only one way for this to end."

"No, it doesn't," Lucina interjected. "If there is honor in you, say so now. The Shepherds welcome all manner of warriors, regardless of their origin. What we share are trust and honor, and anyone that possesses those traits is welcome to join us."

"And what if they have better reasons for not joining?" Yen'fay replied evenly, his face still blank. "No matter. That reasons exist is not enough cause for them to be explained away, child. Now let us complete our business, you and I, and let that be the end of it."

"As you wish," Chrom said as he raised his Falchion. "You deserve to die the death of a craven, but for the sake of your sister, we shall endeavor to give you a dignified end."

Throughout all of this, Kirito had been watching Yen'fay carefully. The parallels that he had drawn between Yen'fay and Heathcliff did not stop at their bearing, he thought. The way that they spoke, the way that their eyes remained glazed over, all of it spoke of a sense of completion. He's already gotten what he wanted out of life, Kirito thought as he raised his own blades and activated his Luna skill. But what did he get that made it worth selling out his own family? It doesn't make any sense…

Then the time for thinking was over and blades began to dance.

Kirito attacked first, using his dwindling power of flight to dive down at Yen'fay with great power, leverage, and speed. It should have been no contest. The Spriggan boy had all the advantages he needed to cut Yen'fay in pieces. But the golden blade Amatsu flicked upwards at the last possible moment to stop both the elucidator and dark repulser dead in their tracks. The next instant, Yen'fay punched Kirito in the face hard enough to send him rolling while Lucina darted forward.

They exchanged a flurry of sword maneuvers that ended when Chrom interposed himself between his daughter and the Valmese sword master. His blows were not as fast as Lucina's, but they matched Yen'fay's attacks in terms of power. Together, they kept the man on his toes while Kirito got to his feet, one hand gingerly touching his cheek.

He grimaced as he realized that he hadn't just taken a hit- the hot terrain of the volcano had burnt his face to the point where it would likely scar, even if he managed to get a healer to look at it. Forcing himself to push past the pain, he pointed his sword at Yen'fay and cast Waste, a spell that would engulf him in a black-purple energy cloud twice in rapid succession.

Yen'fay dodged the first one, but he was distracted by needing to dodge Lucina's Aether technique so that he failed to dodge the second strike. The spell staggered him for a moment, and the three sword-users pressed the advantage, brief though it was.

Fortunately for the battle-weary Shepherds, it was enough. One mistake on Yen'fay's part led to another, then another, and so on. He began to be on the receiving end of more sword wounds instead of being the one to deal them out. Chrom, Lucina, and Kirito were all bruised and bleeding at the end, but they would survive.

It was Lucina who delivered the final blow, an Aether-powered thrust into Yen'fay's stomach, piercing several of his innards and causing massive internal bleeding. The man's expression did not change as he sank down to his knees, the parallel Falchion buried in his body.

Kirito looked down at him and said, "Why?"

"Because… sometime life… gives you no other option… than that… of grim death," Yen'fay muttered blankly. "Well done… Shepherds… I see that she… is in good hands…" Then he keeled over and died.

With their commander dead, the Valmese were fast to retreat. Already demoralized by the site of flying demons and the threat of the fire god hanging over them, it was too much, even for Yen'fay's elite men. As they left, the Shepherds made their way out of the Demon's Ingle by another path, one that would take them to a relatively secure location.

"We never did find out why Yen'fay did what he did," Kazuto sighed as Yui used a staff on his face to try and repair the burn damage done to the soft tissue. "I guess I'll never really know… Although…" His brow bent downward as he though harder.

"What's wrong, Kirito?" Asuna asked as she leaned on him with her eyes closed. She had been so relieved to see him up and about after the curse had been dispelled. Henry had even managed to seal the extra dark energy in a tome, just to be safe.

"Nah, it's nothing," he grinned. "I'm just glad that's all over with. It'll be nice to catch our- Wait, what's going on?" He craned his neck as he heard shouting coming up from the head of the column, and Yui stopped her healing process to try and listen better. "Sounds like there's a fight about to go down."

"Let me go check it out," Asuna said before Kazuto could rise. "Yui, keep working on your father while I go see what's up."

"Okay, but you'd better be back soon!" Yui called as her mother took off on Alf wings.

"I hope everything's okay," Kazuto said, the frown back in place.

As it turned out, an enemy tactician by the name of Excellus had come in simply to taunt Say'ri with the knowledge that Yen'fay had served Walhart in exchange for her safety no matter where she was or how she opposed the empire. And after devastating the Chon'sin princes with the news, the lapdog of Walhart had teleported away before the Shepherds could attack him.

"Bastard," Shino muttered as the fairies sat around a campfire.

"Who? Walhart or Excellus?" Silica asked.

"Take your pick," the sniper muttered. "That's just sick, turning family members on each other like that."

"Yeah, no kidding," Suguha said as she buried her face in her knees. "I can't imagine turning on everything you ever cared about in exchange for the one person you care about most." She looked over at Kazuto, who was staring into the fire without a word. The whole time, he was the only one to have said nothing.

"Daddy?" Yui prompted. "Are you okay?"

"Not really," he admitted. "When I play things back in my head, now I know that I should have just taken him prisoner instead of trying to kill him. Just because he was in our way doesn't mean-"

"Don't, sir," said a familiar voice. Lucina came into the firelight. "Just… don't. Regrets won't get us anywhere closer to undoing the past. I know it must sound ironic coming from a time-traveler, but I learned early on that no amount of brooding brings back your loved ones."

"I know," Kazuto said tightly. "I learned that the hard way." Again, the image of Sachi burned his mind, along with the other Moonlit Black Cats.

"Apologies, sir," Lucina said as she sat down. "I did not mean to assume-"

"Just call me Kirito," Kazuto sighed. "You need to loosen up a little bit, Lucina. We're all friends here, remember?"

"I know- it's simply a habit, Kirito," Lucina replied, slightly hesitating over his name. "I came by to see how each of you are faring. Did you any of you receive crippling wounds?"

"My left shoulder is kinda messed up, but it'll be good as new in a few days according to Miss Lissa," Silica volunteered.

"How did that happen?" Lucina asked curiously.

"Sinon was too busy to notice an assassin sneaking up on her, and I was kinda high up on Pina," Silica said with a slight blush of embarrassment. "I didn't have much flight power left, so I had to jump off of Pina at the last second and drop on the guy. Problem is, I mistimed the jump, and I ended up falling on my side."

"She still got the guy," Shino nodded appreciatively. "I owe her big time for that."

"You've a brave set of comrades," Lucina said to the Black Swordsman. "I hope that you thank the gods for them often."

"Uh… Yeah, sure," Kazuto said uneasily. He wasn't too sure how he felt about gods and the like, though he did have to admit that there had to be some kind of higher power at work with all the time travel and dimension-hopping that was happening. "But, we're not all here. We've still gotta find Lisbeth and Agil. Not to mention that Klein's still out there somewhere."

"Yeah, do we have any word from Mister Klein yet?" Yui asked eagerly.

"No, but Sir Gaius said that a small group of Feroxi were approaching when he reported to Robin and my father," Lucina said with a slight grimace. "I do not know their exact number, but it was clear that there were less than they set out with."

"Oh no…" Asuna gasped.

"Ah, don't worry about Klein," Kazuto said easily. "I'm sure he'll probably be hangin' out with Cordelia as soon as they get back. Why would he wanna hang out with us first?"

"To let us know he's okay!" Asuna said sharply.

"Well, like we were just saying, worrying about it won't change anything," Kazuto said as he leaned back with his hands clasped behind his head to form a temporary pillow. "And I know him pretty well- I know he's fine."

"Erm… Kirito?" another familiar voice said. Everyone looked up to see Robin with silver drops falling from his eyes. "I… He…"

Kirito's blood ran cold at the sight of Robin's tears. Lucina shot to her feet and said, "Robin? What happened to Khan Basilio and his men?"

"Both of the khans are fine, and most of their men are still making their way back because they're wounded," Robin answered, his voice shaky. "But… Klien, he…" He locked eyes with Kazuto, who had ceased to even breathe at this point. "I'm sorry, Kirito."

"Klein," Kazuto said as he stood up slowly. "Where is he, Robin? Where is my friend?"

"He stayed behind so that fate could be changed," Robin replied, new tears falling from his eyes. "He fought Walhart on his own to buy the khans time to get away."

"Kirito…? " Asuna said as she looked up at her husband, who was shaking as he clenched his fists hard enough that his nails were cutting into his palms, and the others could almost hear his teeth grinding against one another. Before she could speak again, his wings materialized, and he took off with a bang!

In an instant, he was lost against the night sky, ignoring the cries from his friends, begging him to come back. He could only hear the voices of the Cats in his ears, now joined by Klein's always cheerful tone.

"Look out!"

"Ah, no!"

"Not like this!"

"You're a beater!"

"Thank you, Kirito. Goodbye."

"You look better that way, man. Way cooler than your avatar." Down below, the others wondered where raindrops came from on cloudless nights. Asuna looked on, hoping that somehow, someday, Kirito could finally stop losing those that were closest to him before it destroyed his fragile spirit.

In a place not so far away, amidst ruins where time is said to be distorted by the whims of the gods, four teenagers got to their feet. Two of them had bluish hair, one a messy mop atop his head, and the other shoulder-length and straight, framing her delicate face. The other two were identical in appearance, with red eyes and long, dark purple hair.

All four of them had come from different places, but each one of them had a new purpose here. They would find those that needed them, and help heal the wounds that had continued to fester, even though the wounded had tried to move on. Sometimes, not even time could heal the most serious of afflictions.

Robin: So you did kill Klein!

Mataras: Not so loud! Cordelia doesn't know yet!

Cordelia: I don't know what?

Mataras: GAH! Uh, er... Oh, uh, that my other crossover, Star Sword, is making a return for an extra three chapters! how about that?!

Cordelia: What are you hiding?

Mataras: What, you don't believe me?

Cordelia,: No, I believe you, and that's all well and good, but I still think that you're keeping something from me. What is it?

Mataras: Nothing you need to worry about...

Robin: Hey, Cordelia, what do you plan on doing when Klein gets back, by the way?

Mataras: Now you're just playing dirty!

Cordelia: I haven't made up my mind, actually. Though I do know what I'll do with Mataras if he doesn't tell me when he's getting back.

Mataras: Well, would you look at the time! I think that we had better get going! Bye, everyone!

Cordelia: Oh no! You don't get to get off the hook that easy, you dastard! Get back here, NOW!