Chapter 45

AN: Hello children of the internet (corn)! I feel awkward about not having anything to say that is really interactive per say, but I have another story recommendation for you guys! It is called…. Awakening a hero by The Tactician Knight! I can almost guarantee that you will like this one if you have not read it already. He uses a lot of similar story elements to me, but he does cool things with it! Not only that, but some people you may know are in the fic as well! You should give it a read. Anyway, ON TO THE CHAPTER!

When I awoke, the light of the sun silhouetted Erin's form as she bent over changing my bandage. I groaned, and as a result she backed off a bit from her job.

"Did everyone get out ok?" She sighed at my question.

"Yes. Everyone got out with lesser injuries than you. You are going to have a scar on your stomach from where you got stabbed." I looked down at the now piece of white scar tissue to the right of my abdomen.

"How long have I been out this time?" Erin twisted her mouth.

"Around 26 hours." She rolled the tension out of her shoulders. "Out of those I have only been healing you about 8." No wonder my body feels like it was run over by a steam roller. If one moment of healing felt like a needle being inserted into that spot with a jackhammer, it would make sense that 8 hours of treatment would make me feel like flat Stanley.

"Why such urgency?" I sat up through the pain. I knew the quirk of the staff; it made you be able to perform everything you normally could, but you had to endure some serious pain. That is why staves are rarely used out of wartime situations. It was almost as if she was expecting something...

"Shatter is coming back."

"I can tell by your eyes that is not the problem." Erin looked legitimately scared.

"Do you remember where Zach was when we were fighting Excellus?" Ummm... Let's see. The girls were in the cage, Inigo and Gaius were knocked out, we rescued baby Marcus, then they were knocked out leaving only Zach and I. I fought Excellus alone…

"I can't remember..." I said as Erin bobbed her head.

"That is because he DIDN'T." Erin stood up and began pacing. "Zach hid while the rest of us fought." My eyes widened. He did what? "Olivia blames him for your injuries,Inigo, Marcus, and Ilithyia do as well." She counted them off on her fingers. "Out of them though, Olivia is the worst. Her eyes went all weird and she tried to kill him." Erin gave me a glance that told me to get a handle on my wife.

"So you are telling me that Liv tried to kill Zach?"

"Yes. That was while you were out though. Rose has been watching over her, and making sure she doesn't do something stupid." As far as I can tell, Rose did not have the temper of her Mother or Brother.

"That is good." I smiled, pain traveling up my cheeks. "What about Zach?"

"He thinks that you put Olivia up to killing trying to kill him." Oh fuck. "So he isn't very happy with you, or anyone else for that matter."

"What else is new?" I muttered, but then considered the situation. "What about you and Gaius?" I picked up a needle, and wondered about the blood all over it.

"Gaius and I," She spoke with precision, snatching the morbid tool out of my hand. "Believe that you were reckless, and deserved what you got."

"For the record, my recklessness saved your life."

"It also destroyed your shield arm." She tapped my now once again bare stump. I winced at the attention she was giving it.

"But it's sacrifice saved all of our lives." I closed my eyes and nodded, trying to seem as wise as possible.

"No, not yours, because I just saved your life." Erin put the staff that she was using back onto her back.

"Then we are even?" I extended my arm to her, but she just laughed.

"Only in your wildest dreams will we ever be even." She laughed at the most likely stupid expression that graced my face. "You should probably go talk to everyone right now. I have no doubt that one of them is plotting Zach's slow and painful death right now."

I walked out into chaos. Olivia had apparently knocked out our daughter, and was chasing Zach around the camp with a sword in her hand. Zach was shouting curses (not the fuck kind.) back at her with beams of green light, and tree limbs falling into her path. Each one was dodged readily by the leaping dancer. Meanwhile, Rose was lying on the ground while Marcus leaned over her and whispered something about petunias. Gaius was eating candy while cheering Olivia on. Inigo and Ilithyia were no where to be seen; they were probably off on a date somewhere. Erin slipped beside me as I reached for the place Donny usually was. It was a misplaced hope as all the hand caught was air.

"Erin." I breathed in deeply so as not to scream. "Where is my sword?" Erin reached inside the tent once more, and handed me Donny.

"I would advise against it." Erin told me as I swung the blade in a loose circle. "You could open your wounds again."

"Would you rather have Zach seriously wounded or killed?"

"Which is why officially, I was attending your daughter's head wound." Erin seemed more businesslike than usual... What is going on? It did not matter, on the pair's next pass, I ran in front of my wife and blocked the downward strike that would have grazed Zach's back. The murk in Olivia's eyes was way deeper than normal when she got angry. I haven't seen her so mad since I was at Gangrel's mercy. He ended up a slush of blood and organs on the ground. Was that really more than 2 years ago? It seems like it was just yesterday. Anyway, I looked deep into the murky rage trying to find a trace of humanity in her gaze.

"Liv! Liv! I am fine! See? There is no need to be angry anymore!" There was no flicker of recognition in her dead purple eyes.

"Get out of my way." She shoved me, but I regained my balance quickly, and got in between Zach and her once again.

"Listen Liv! My injuries are not Zach's fault!" I searched for a person to blame. "They are my own fault! You should be scolding me for my recklessness! Not trying to kill Zach!" She swung her sword in a quick vicious arc that I easily parried. I noticed about 9 flaws in her guard, and three ways I could kill her, but she was not an enemy. She was my wife.

"Zach abandoned my husband to fight against a great evil on his own!" The fury made her strikes reckless, but they also made them quick and fast; it took all I could to keep up with her speed in my state. "My husband is lying in a bed dying because of him! You would dare get in my way?"

"Liv. I am alive!" I waved my sword as if to get her attention. "I am completely fine! It is over right?"

"Erin said it would be a miracle if he survived." Really Erin? You act all innocent, and then you cause a problem like this!

"Well…" I searched a moment for words to say while I lazily blocked slowing blows from my tiring wife. "Miracle happened: I am alive! We are going to be fine." I deflected her sword wide, and placed the tip of my sword on the ground while resting my hand comfortably on the handle. "Breathe Liv, and put down the sword my waifu." Liv's murky eyes were almost too cloudy to see the purple as she lifted her sword.

"ONLY MY HUSBAND CAN EVER CALL ME THAT!" She screamed, striking with a second wind that jarred my entire body. I felt the wound on my side open once again. Shit, Erin is going to unofficially kill me. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO BE USING MY HUSBAND'S VOICE?" More importantly…

"You don't recognize me Liv?" I grabbed her arm and she tried to chop it off. That was close. It is almost as if she is really trying to kill me.

"Ok seriously, I am fine Liv, stop it." A pit of dread hit my stomach as she continued her relentless assault. "You are kinda scaring me..."

"My revenge is not complete until the traitor's head is on a pike!" Liv kept pushing her offensive.

"In his defense, none of us noticed the cage or the sage either... And that is not what you are talking about." Another slash went over my head, and I grabbed her arm mid swing. "Liv... Are you ok? Why don't you calm down?" I saw her fist fly into my face, and my vision went red. I was looking up at my wife from the ground as she stalked towards me.

"Liv!" I rolled out of the reach of her foot, and jumped to my feet. "Stop it!" Her eyes snapped clear, and filled with tears when she saw what happened to my face, or the fact I was alive.

"Y-y-you're alive?" It was the latter.

"Yeah. Erin fixed me up good." I looked down at my once again bleeding side. Oh our reunion may be short my love. Erin shall come with her spells and torture devices that may end me.

"Who did that to you?" Then the former. No way was I going to tell her the truth. Then Gaius opened his big fat mouth.

"You punched him in the face! It was pretty sweet." GODSDAMN you Gaius! Now you made her cry even harder. Thank you sir. I certainly DON'T want to punch you in the face like Liv did to me! What would give you that impression? Did you say the way I am glaring and gesturing with my remaining hand? I am insulted sir!

Anyway, Liv was crying, and I hugged her tight with my hand. "You didn't do it, you weren't acting yourself Liv."

"I w-was just so worried!" She sobbed into my shoulder. "You were going to die! I saw! Your face was all white and there was so much blood and you wouldn't have even got to see-" her sentence was interrupted by another bout of sobbing.

"See what Liv? See what?" I inquired of her. I did not get my answer as Shatter took that moment to appear before us.

"Do you have the boy?" The large man asked. I looked over at Erin.

"Can you handle it? The little one doesn't seem to trust anyone but you and Rose for some reason…" Erin nodded, and walked past the tent where Rose appeared to be regaining consciousness next to Marcus. I looked back to Shatter.

"He will be out in a moment." I informed Shatter.

"What happened to your face."

"Nothing of great importance." Liv looked back up at me, then moved to my right side, still grasping my hand.

"Hmmm…" Shatter did not seem interested in the least. "It appears that you had trouble during the recovery."

"You could say that…" I looked at my side. The wound seemed to be closing on it's own. Erin really does good work, AND she won't murder me. Things appeared to be looking up.

"Here he is!" Erin pulled the very shy boy out." Every time I looked at him, another spike of guilt wormed through my body. If only we had gotten there a little sooner, maybe we could have gotten him back unharmed. As it was though, the boy was as safe as we could make him. If older Marcus was any indication, Basilio fixed Marcus' shyness issue right up.

"If Flavia asks, then Valm emasculated him." My bluntness made Shatter wince, as if I confirmed one of his worst fears.

"I guess the vengeful cause will make Basilio and Flavia want to destroy Valm." Shatter shrugged. "They are a mistake in balance that needs to be rectified."

"Agreed."

"Sooooooo…" Zach spoke up. "Are we going back to the shepherds?"

"You are." Shatter held up one finger. "But, Robin thinks you will be more useful as a splinter group for now. I read between the lines; Chrom had still not forgiven us. This would be an issue.

"Ok." Zach was visibly disappointed with the news.

"I tell you what. Chrom is only really angry with Noah, and I can take one more person with me."

Everyone said Zach immediately.

"Come on you guys!" Zach was exasperated. "At least pretend like you are reluctant to lose me." I laughed.

"It is for the best man. You can probably find a girl there if you look hard enough."

"SOLD!" Zach replied. Zach walked up next to Shatter and young Marcus. "Let's go!"

And with that, the three of them disappeared together through the portal. Despite the guy's ninth wheel bullshit, he really was a nice guy. I was going to miss him.

I know I was doing something before Shatter appeared. What was it?

Yer wife has somethin' important to tell ya!

Donny? Why was Donny's voice appear in my head? And why does this seem a little like Deja vu?

"So!" I turned to my wife. "What did you want to tell me?"

"Ummmmm…" Shy Liv was making one of her rare appearances.

"Yes?" I prompted for her to continue. The look in her eyes was completely the opposite of earlier. Her eyes were sparkling with hope and joy.

"It is sticking."

"What do you mean?"

"Noah… I am pregnant. And I think it is going to stick."

AN: YOU KNOW I LOVE ENDING ON THOSE WORDS! Anyway, I was looking back on my old stuff, and I have realized how much I have grown as a writer because of you guys! THANK YOU! Anyway, I was thinking about reopening something. It is called FAQ! You can ask any of the following people a question:

Me (writer)

Noah

Olivia

Inigo

Rose

Erin

Gaius

Ilithyia

Marcus

Zach

I will answer all questions asked to me through comments or PM's to me. They will go on a very special chapter! We will make it the 50th chapter special! So that means that you have until chapter 49 to ask your questions. I will answer all questions to the characters above then! Anyway, follow, review, and ask your questions! I will see you later!